I am profoundly appreciative of your work Professor Richardson – thank you.
It’s all coming into view this week isn’t it – the fascist playbook? Polls so close that no matter whether Harris wins by a small or large margin the GOP will cry foul ; local election boards that are corrupted ; a whole range of legal teams the GOP has lined up to challenge the election’s legality ; a stacked Supreme Court ; threats of violence against election officials ; the odious Elon Musk putting his thumb heavily on the scale ; the collusion with Putin and the compromising of our national security as Trump and Musk connive with a murderous dictator ; the desire of that same dictator for revenge, which is nothing less than the destruction of the US.
What will the US do without access to health care for women ? What will it do once the Right imposes its perverse view of history and education on our schools and universities, when the Florida model of repression goes national ? What will families do with no social security ? What misery will be visited on them when tarifs cause untold stress on already tight household budgets ? What environmental damage will come from a know-nothing attitude towards climate change, and the gutting if not outright elimination of NOAA and the early warning system for hurricanes ?
What will happen if they succeed in building their camps, and deport millions ? How will they try to hide the likely humanitarian catastrophe that will ensue ? What will happen to basic rights when police departments are further militarized and given a green light to arbitrarily treat citizens as they please ? What will happen as a lawless president pardons January 6th rioters ? Will he also pardon militia members who intimidate or even shoot peaceful protesters ? How long will people endure armed repression coupled with economic misery, before they themselves organize against it ?
What will the economy look like as the US exits NATO and leaves Europe to Putin ? What will happen to the US as the EU, an entity that helps sustain a robust US economy, is plunged into war as Putin gobbles up the Ukraine, the Baltics, and makes a play for Poland ? What will the nuclear powers of France and Britain do as remaining fellow NATO members are invaded ?
But the most important questions I have are more philosophical and humanistic : How can so many well-educated people be so cruel and reckless as to entrust these monsters – a Trump, a Musk, and at this late date, a Putin – with their futures ? How can the historic memory of Boomers be so short and insouciant as to forget the lessons of the 1930s and 1940s ? How can people be filled with such blind hate that they will die on the hill of a Trump, rather than on the hill that will expand rights, economic opportunity, and keep the planet livable ?
If you think this is hyperventilating, that is merely because I have taught about this sort of thing my entire life. Authoritarians will lie about everything – their racism, their sexism are based on lies, their patriotism and their piety utterly false. But the cruelty they tell you they intend to inflict ? That is almost always the only truth they tell.
Steve, you stated the case for voting for democracy very well. Even if democracy wins this election, the autocrats will still be there. We can only hope that after democracy wins, enough people will understand how important democracy is. Hatred will always be around but we must learn how to make people understand differences.
I found a website for [ H. RES. 1386 ] that puts our name on a petition to Mike Johnson to stand against the dangerous agenda regarding the policies of Project 2025.
I forgot about H.RES.1386 from some August notes within an older Jessica's CHOP WOOD, CARRY WATER Substack - and I put my name on the petition - if you want, here's the link:
Johnson is a fascist. Fascists don’t give a damn about petitions nor any other form of advice from the people about what’s best for the country. The only hope is to outvote them, make it stick, make laws that curtail their operations (especially voter suppression and violations of civil rights), and vigorously enforce those laws. We can remove these fascists from power, but it will take a lot of persistent effort for a long time.
Johnson isn't a mere fascist, he's a Christofascist. I won't add my name to any petition for two reasons:
- It's a waste of time. Members of Congress only listen to their constituents and even then not always. It was beyond disheartening to see 85 boxes of petitions addressed to Speaker Paul Ryan with hundreds of thousands of signatures be rejected by his office; imagine the effort, the paper, the shipping costs to get those petitions to DC only to have them summarily dismissed.
- If Trump is elected and Project 2025 is implemented, I don't want to give them a reason to send me to the hooscow. Yes, that's extreme but we can't fool ourselves into believing that all will be normal, that maximum caution isn't required.
Christofascist, very apt phrase to describe Johnson, and hardly just him. Extremist Evangelicals are the driving centre of those praying endlessly for the Lord to end "secular tyranny", agents of Satan, in the USA. They have been dreaming of this for years now. The downfall of RvW has simply spurred them on, and an appetite for more to come is much of their minds.
I am a Catholic Christian, and don’t find anything remotely Christian about them. They simply want to misuse Jesus’s name as an excuse for a power grab.
The 1943 description of the fascism we were fighting is a perfect description of Trump and his MAGA followers. I don't know why that is so hard for so many Americans to understand!
And some of them don't believe it -- they consider everything they hear from non-Trump sources to be lies, and they've have been told that it's Biden and Dems who are the fascists. That's what we're up against. I have MAGA family members. They believe Trump is being persecuted, that there has been a 'plot' against him all along. It's just heartbreaking.
According to polls, Andy. Most normal people do not answer phone calls or texts from people they don’t know. Years ago I answered a poll which turned out to be a money making scam. So the result is polls of 1000 people or less extrapolate for what millions believe. The media used to say how many were polled and they don’t anymore.
And consider the questions— do you think the country is going in the wrong direction? Hell yes, I would answer because a degenerate crazy former president is running to be re- elected and has the Supreme Court supporting him. 🎃🤡💩🤮🤬💔
I’m reading Dr Fauci’s book ON CALL. start with the recent part first. The swill from tfg’s fascist mouth makes us forget facts—4,000 people a day were dying from COVID when Biden took office. When MAGats say what has Biden done for me, there it is. Donnie mismanaged it and didn’t care. Made masks political.
Andy, it does seem that you are right. Both of my parents participated in WW2 and I grew up hearing all about it. Now, in 2024, WW2 is ancient history to a majority of Americans who have thought very little about it.
As Sinclair Lewis put it: "It Can't Happen Here." I read that after the 2016 election and it seemed beyond imagining. But it seems a bit more prescient now that we have actual Nazis clawing at the doors of the federal government.
It’s hard for many Americans to understand, David Clark, because they can’t get past their top political priority, which is electing people to office who promise to preserve the systemic advantages of white Americans.
Too many of them do not know — they are the ones fooled by the claims of “communism” and the fear mongering. It’s so hard to get the clarity out there thaat is needed.
It's quite fashionable among democrats right now to compare Trump to Hitler (always a last-ditch, losing argument in any political discussion) and inaccurately call him a Fascist. The true definition of Fascism is government control of private business, in other words, public-private partnership. Democrats calling Trump Fascist is projection. The democrats are the ones who have partnered up with big business and the war machine to censor Americans, in direct violation of their constitutional rights to free speech, and in contradiction to their traditional values. Our founding fathers told us that free speech was the cornerstone of democracy and the Democratic party is the one trying to eliminate it. This is how all dictatorships begin.
I've voted Democrat all my life, but the Dems have changed for the worse and I will not support them again until they change back.
David, you're confused about the difference between Republican fascism and the soft "socialism" of the Democrats ("socialism" like organized and regulated mail delivery, the military in all forms, transportation and road repair, social security created by the life-long input of hundreds of thousands of working people who couldn't afford retirement funds). You've sipped too much of their "free" Koolaide. Government oversight (soft socialism) came into play under Roosevelt to try to create protected space for people working for a living on farms, in hospitals, etc. Protection from the rapaciousness and gluttony of the wealthy. Personally, I believe very wealthy people who insist on piling up more wealth are mentally ill. Is there nothing more important in life than the Almighty Dollar? The Dems are trying to maintain that protection, which has definitely been eroded by the millionaire+ interests who are pretty much insane, IMHO. And very dangerous to the rest of us whom they regard as their prey and fodder from whom to wrest their exorbitant profits.
Yes, they used to try to do that. But in the past several years they have enabled the rapacious gluttony of the Bill Gates', Blackrocks and Pfizer's of the world by labeling anything remotely critical of their big pharma, big Ag, big military agenda as 'misinformation' and proceeding to force social media to eliminate the voices of those who are bold enough to call out the truth and campaign against those wealthy interests you're talking about. That's not democratic, or socially democratic. It's blatant dictatorship. I'm for social democracy, under the protection of our constitution. The dems have left the constitution behind in the dust. It's now the Republicans who are our best hope of fighting against Oligarchy, mostly because they've welcomed Robert F. Kennedy into their fold.
Fascism is a FAR-RIGHT, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy. Opposed to anarchism, democracy, pluralism, egalitarianism, liberalism, socialism, and Marxism, fascism is placed on the far right-wing within the traditional left–right spectrum. (h/t Wikipedia).
It's not the Democrats who have written a 900-page document that details how they will turn the US into an autocracy that will destroy the public education system and replace it with schools that will look more and more like the dreaded madrasas, disable the federal agencies that protect the public from bad medicines, bad food, bad investments, that will dismantle NOAA, defund FEMA, and, ultimately, ban all abortions, no exceptions. Even just a summary of their game plan should be enough to make you understand how dangerous would be a Trump second term. Which is to say that not voting or voting third party is a vote for Trump and the implementation this evil scheme.
MisTBlu, thanks for your considered opinion. I grew up on just such thinking but have changed my mind.
I don't believe any more that the federal agencies are protecting us, nor that they're even trying. They are captured by Big Industry and the Military Industrial Complex, which in turn are owned by uber-wealthy families who have been jockeying to control world politics and carry out their eugenicist ideology for several generations. I don't trust the NY Times, given it's history in promoting propaganda supporting the agenda of these elites.
The other news organizations are by and large as corrupt as the times, being owned by the same people that own Big Industry. Are you hearing about all these dire eventualities from the legacy media? Each side vilifies and distorts the intentions of the other. The Dems lie as often and as egregiously as the Republicans.
If the dems cared at all about any of this they would have welcomed Robert F. Kennedy Jr with open arms. He has the will and the knowledge to stop the out-of-control corporate capture that has obliterated our democracy. But instead, they have coerced social media to censor Kennedy and anybody else who offers discussion that throws doubt on this agenda. Their behavior is unconstitutional. They deserve to lose for this alone. They are captured as well.
Project 2025 seems pretty benign to me - not exactly everything I'd like to see, but certainly not disastrous. The devil is quite possibly in the details. But the first priority is to reclaim the free-speech that the dems, etc. have tried to take away, and spread the knowledge of how our government has turned into the political arm of international corporate power. Without free speech, you wouldn't even be able to criticize Project 2025 without having your bank account shut down. They could say you were spreading misinformation. Is that the country you want to live in?
I stand with Robert F. Kennedy because he has immense personal integrity and clear, workable ideas for making these changes. Trump has enlisted Kennedy to do these things and Kennedy trusts Trump. I never thought I'd be here, but here I am.
Slow down a little. Consider reading Mein Kamph (The Struggle-1925) in the original 557 pages. -a hard difficult read with poor prose and lots of wandering but the purpose was to overthrow the German Republic. Hitler's fascist policies aimed to take over all forms of industry & commerce while promoting nationalism allowing no dissent .On this platform Hitler embraced racism to pit groups against each other. We know that led to: WW11.
Now think about the Republican Party embracing Project 2025 (Heritage Foundation). The end of American Democracy as we know it?
The first thing any aspiring dictator does, is to control the media and limit the ability of the opposition to express their views. I see the Democrats doing this, not the Republicans. The same entities who have taken over the democratic party in our country have already taken over all forms of industry & commerce. It's been happening for decades already.
"Oh please . . .?" That's the best you can do, Steve? Are you feeling uncomfortable about your indulgence of this rotten system with which we live that profits some at the expense of most others?
I suspect there is a significant anti-abortion Catholic constituency, to wit Amy Coney Barrett. Much of Christianity has moved into a more liberal outlook. But just read the original fanaticism of the New Testament, this is what Evangelicals, Baptists draw their basic inspiration from. A world ruled by Satan, all the other religions are ruled by demons or make believe, ONLY the good followers of Jesus have it right, and the true followers are assaulted from within by heretics, and the Second Coming of Jesus and judgement are right on the horizon. Liberally minded Christians tone all this down, often treating the virgin birth for example as purely legendary in nature. Most seminaries, except for the fundamentalists, pretty much have taught it this way for some time now.
Frank, I don't know to what seminaries you are referring when you use that too often used word, "most." Speaking as one who has graduated from one such seminary, the word "some" would be far more accurate. The seminary I attended and many more whose students I discuss this stuff with, taught people to read the words of the New Testament critically, and in historical context---not just because they are more "liberally minded." It's critical examination and study--not just "liberalism." The Roman Catholic Church would have followers believe its edicts are equal to scripture as part of its tradition. The Virgin Birth isn't just legendary. The idea performs a serious function in the theology of the Church and so has power of its own.
In Canada denominations such as the United Church, the largest Protestant, are considered liberal in nature, downplaying and/or denying the the miraculous in the NT. I've met more than one church member who literally disbelieve in things such as the virgin birth, treating it as purely legendary, an education head in a local church in the early 90s who treated it in the same way. Better, here's Wiki on the topic of liberal Christianity in general. https://www.wikiwand.com/en/articles/Liberal_Christianity
My source for "most" would be Bart Ehrman, he's put things that way for a couple generations now, his Introduction to the New Testament is based on a textbook in use at Chapel Hill, NC theology dept for about a quarter century now. If you think he's wrong, without stats and research I won't argue the point. I believe the Atlantic School of Theology in Nova Scotia, Canada takes this approach, studying the Bible using "critical" methods, putting theology in a historical context, but also leaving various denominations a place for their own interpretations. Thanks for the notes on how the RCC still deals with the story of virgin birth and her divine status in the Catholic tradition.
Catholics (including, I’m sure, you, Kathy Hughes) are, on the average, far better Christians than white evangelicals. Ironically, however, even the average Catholic falls shorter of living up to Christian ideals than the average atheist.
Yes, and he smirks all the time. He was just here in Oregon to campaign for the local R in House District 5 who has an excellent opponent. Then he went across the Columbia to fundraise and campaign for angry Joe Kent, who is fascist to the core, and trying to unseat the incumbent D female who is an auto mechanic and hardly far left.
This is long. It is the editorial in today's edition of the Orland Sentinel. Christofascism is alive, well and flourishing in America.
ORLANDO SENTINEL EDITORIAL
How would Jesus vote?
Today, the weight of the pending election is on the minds of many across Central Florida— including those who are sitting in church pews or temples, listening to faith leaders exhorting them (subtly or not so much) to cast their ballots one way or another.
In a perfect — or even functional — society, that sermonizing would prompt an examination of how candidates’ conduct and viewpoints align with the core tenets of each voter’s faith. But for a growing number of Americans, this guidance will offer comfort and support that it’s OK to vote for people whose morals might appear questionable to the unenlightened. That it’s a bad idea to question leaders who exploit their voter-given power to marginalize and scapegoat groups of people as general threats to their own existence, and to paint those who disagree as villainous liars.
That it’s acceptable to ignore some of the great principles espoused by the world’s religious traditions: To comfort the afflicted, to welcome the stranger, to seek justice, to revere the truth. This is Christian nationalism at work — in Florida, and across the nation. And there is very little that is Christlike about it. Rather, this is the cancer our forefathers sought to prevent when they created the fundamental firewalls between government and religion — the walls that many of today’s leaders are seeking to tear down.
Know them by their works
Not many politicians openly proclaim themselves to be Christian nationalists, but they aren’t hard to spot. Gov. Ron DeSantis is a prime example. He often explains his actions (particularly those that misappropriate funding, incorporate dishonesty or gather power to himself that outstrips the boundaries of his role) by lashing out at some group that has “forced” him into extraordinary action. Consider his recent veto of the state’s entire cultural arts 10/27/24, 1:01 PM Orlando Sentinel https://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=7f2e94da-42a6-42b3-91be-f4782530a2d0&edid=1046e43e-d6… 1/5 grant program — a move that saved taxpayers a relatively paltry $32 million, but one that has devastated community arts programs including small theaters, visual-arts spaces and music programs. These programs brought joy to many and did no harm; some of them will not survive the loss of funding they depended on.
Magnifying his cruelty, DeSantis and like-minded people have repeatedly lied about asylum seekers, branding them as “illegals” who want to sell fentanyl to high-schoolers, rape housewives and steal jobs from deserving Americans. The only presidential debate this year featured the same callous dishonesty, when former president Donald Trump slandered Haitian immigrants as pet abducting dog-eaters. The president and his debate-prep team almost certainly knew they were repeating social-media rumors that had already been proven false. In each of these cases, what side do you think Jesus would have taken? Or Solomon, Mohammed, Buddha? If you need a reference, check out Leviticus 19:34: The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
The truly sad thing is that, even as we write this, we can think of so many other examples where DeSantis, Trump or legislative candidates demonized vulnerable people, usually as a distraction to draw voters’ attention away from their own failures to fix property insurance, repair crumbling infrastructure and help Florida’s increasingly desperate working class. Here’s just one more: The infamous 2023 hearing of the state House Education Committee, where Rep. Webster Barnaby, R-Deltona, listened to transgender adults and youth plead for protection against invasion into their intimate lives, then responded: “The Lord rebuke you, Satan, and all of your demons and all of 10/27/24, 1:01 PM Orlando Sentinel https://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=7f2e94da-42a6-42b3-91be-f4782530a2d0&edid=1046e43e-d6… 2/5 your imps will come and parade before us. That’s right — I called you demons and imps.”
Barnaby is on the ballot Nov. 5, facing Rosemarie Latham, a nurse-practitioner who wants to expand health care to low-income workers. May his cruel pride go before a fall. Praying to false gods In a recent edition of the NPR talk show 1A, a panel of experts explored the psychology of Christian nationalism and why so many Americans are seduced into believing that these actions are godly, or even acceptable in a polite society — and how they can revere a creature like Trump, the serial adulterer with a miles-long record of cheating his business partners, exploiting public resources and spewing lies about political rivals.
And that was before he became president. Since then, fact-checking organizations have documented thousands of outright lies — while Trump cozied up to some of the world’s cruelest and most oppressive regimes and stood by while a mob broke into the U.S. Capitol in pursuit of his attempt to steal the 2020 election. None of it seems to matter to the subset of voters who see Trump as their golden idol — capable of no wrong. Others vote for him because they don’t care about the lies, and believe he’ll be better for their bottom line. Even rational Republicans, who are repulsed by his arrogance and greed, fear to speak up against him. How can this be? As described by the panelists, it’s definitely not by accident. In fact, the current Christian nationalist movement appears to be the end game of a “deeply networked organizational infrastructure” that’s been working for years to dismantle critical checks and balances — including the much vaunted separation of church and state, but also reaching to mechanisms intended to keep power distributed and thus, resistant to abuse.
In Florida, DeSantis has emasculated the state Legislature and systematically undermined the independence of the court system. Not to sound too conspiratorial, but it’s all part of the plan. Powerful, ultra-conservative ministers are definitely playing their role, lacing their sermons with partisan themes and using political stunts as fundraising props. Groups like the pro-book-banning Moms for Liberty clutch cloaks of virtue while they work to destabilize Americans’ perception of what is true and acceptable in society. A close look at the books they’ve targeted include many that had no whiff of sexual or sinful content. Instead, these stories worked to build empathy and understanding of people who were from other cultures, or related the historic struggle for human equality and dignity. 10/27/24, 1:01 PM Orlando Sentinel https://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=7f2e94da-42a6-42b3-91be-f4782530a2d0&edid=1046e43e-d6… 3/5 Removing those books, and rejecting other efforts to foster empathy, makes it easier to vilify groups of people who have few defenses. They are the perfect targets — and having enemies is essential in the Christian Nationalist playbook. “One aspect of movement that’s become much more salient in the last decade or so is the idea of spiritual warfare. This idea that God and Satan are really active and directly involved in American political campaigns, and God has chosen to anoint one candidate.
So within this mindset, it’s important to understand they see Trump not so much as a politician. They don’t look at his personal history, but they see him as an anointed one sent from on high,” Katherine Stewart, who recently wrote a book about the movement, told 1A. To question Trump is to question God. That’s the message. It’s so wrong, but so powerful. What voice will you follow? So how do Christians and other people who are sincere in the core tenets of their faith fight back against this co-opting of religion? Many local churches are already doing this work. There are pastors in this community who speak compellingly of Christ’s imperatives toward kindness, respect and humility. Their congregations work to lift up marginalized people, heal the sick, care for those in need. They pray for justice, and for truth. They should do more, remembering that Jesus himself was not content just to preach and hope. He was a fiery voice challenging the power structure — a dangerous voice, in the end, but one that has echoed through millennia.
We’ll close with something the Rev. Jim Wallis, director of the Center on Faith and Justice at Georgetown University, who has been rebuking the ultraconservative high-jacking of faith for decades: “Jesus said, you’ll know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Now as I dig into that text in times like this, it tells me that the opposite of truth isn’t just lies, it’s captivity. It’s captivity. And a whole lot of people have become captive to these lies.” As they consider their choices in this election, we urge readers of faith to look past the political alliances that have been forged between the powerful elite of this nation and the Philistines who offer to cloak greed and division in Godly vestments. Look to the core works of your faith: The Torah. The Koran. The Bible. And pray. This nation has never needed it more. 10/27/24, 1:01 PM Orlando Sentinel https://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=7f2e94da-42a6-42b3-91be-f4782530a2d0&edid=1046e43e-d6… 4/5
Years ago, someone in an online discussion group used the term, "christofascist." I was impressed by how perfectly it described members of my family and people I grew up with, so I began using it from then on.
Unlike mainline Protestantism, which focuses on loving God and neighbor, Evangelicalism is animated by fear. Evangelicals awaken every morning, overcome with a thousand different fears: fear of Satan, fear of committing a sin, fear of an angry God, fear of being condemned to hell, fear of criticism by fellow believers, fear of people who do not believe as they do, worship as they do, love as they do and live as they do. In humans, uncontrolled fear is transformed into hate. This makes evangelicals the ideal targets for fascism.
The smarter fascists who direct Trump have used him to attract and dominate evangelicals, bringing them to heel in service to the fascist drive for power and control.
Evangelicals, fearing secularism, eschew public education. Thus, they are unable to think critically, or sort fact from fiction. In fact, they have abetted the campaign to discredit and defund public education in favor of "Christian" and charter schools.
Sinclair Lewis did NOT write "When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." But whoever first wrote this aphorism was right.
No, he didn't, but he wrote plenty of things that suggest he would have been OK with it. For instance, from IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE (which I want to reread, but not till after the election): "But he saw too that in America the struggle was befogged by the fact that the worst fascists were they who disowned the word ‘fascism’ and preached enslavement to capitalism under the style of constitutional and traditional Native American liberty."
Yeah! You're right. Glad it's happening in your country, not mine! But at least you're prepared to be the canary in the coal-mine for the rest of the English-speaking world. And Rupert; he's now your problem.
While there will be unhappy losers, I expect something more like the failure of the supposed fear inspiring Nazi Werewolf plans. Seems they chose to slink away and not impale themselves on their swords after losing the war.
Trump followers would be well advised to follow something more like the Werewolf actual lack of actions and get on with the rest of their lives.
ChristoFascist! Handmaids, whose male preachers are screeching about abortion. Fear, hate, the other…and at the core is sexism and hate for women! This has been the core power struggle for a long time! Well before Rome…and their weird version of Jesus, who was clearly married with children..
Johnson is also a hypocrite hiding his lust for power and control behind his "religious righteousness," MisTBlu. Let's just hope there are enough women who don't want anyone to boss us around to get rid of these theocratic punks.
I completely agree. I stopped adding my name to any political request or poll. Those that do are putting a bullseye on themselves. Win, lose or draw this election is a losing proposition for all involved.
Stated somewhere in the Harry Potter series by Professor Dumbledore. The villain of the series split his soul by murdering, to avoid death, and he did it many times.
Wow! I knew that Trump and his cronies-in-crime were up to no good, but as I was reading Heather's letter today, it became crystal clear. Everything she quoted went right to the cold heart of Donald Trump.
Two statements stood out to me as describ8ng MAGA. Women are only useful for "children, kitchen, and the church." MAGA's sentiments exactly.
The bull's eye truth of Trump's whole movement is this quote- "Getting men to hate rather than to think."
Pam, I opened the US Army link Heather provided, and this part jumped out at me when reading page 1: "They make their own rules and change them when they choose. If you don't like it, it's "T.S." ".
I think it's pretty easy to deduce what "T.S." stands for! 😁
If trump becomes president, every day that passes, Vance will be a day closer to be president himself due death or greater incapacitated of the former....
I think there is a real plan behind this--formulated by Thiel and Musk. If tffg wins, let him have the throne for a while, but soon use the 25th Amendment to get rid of him. Then Thiel and Musk and the rest of the oligarchs have a clear field.
Yes, Pam, that stood out to me as well. I think, hope, as a nation, we are past this thinking and rhetoric. Most of us anyway.
I appreciate you not using the word "fascist" even though clearly this is a part of that definition. I tire of our use of this word (frequently) as it mirrors the simplistic and degrading tone of DT and I hope we are better than that. Still I realize we must give voice to the truth. Truth to power.
Everything Heather said is correct. I am just as concerned why the people will blindly follow that is clearly designed to harm them. Yet perhaps they’ve already been harmed.
Sometime in 1993 or 1994, Bill Clinton signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement. On that day, I paused and wondered how great this would affect American workers; workers in manufacturing who had little formal education. A few years later in my travels as an art dealer driving across the country, I drove to Seattle and stopped in Richmond, Indiana to stay at an Airbnb. The Victorian house was as ornate as the Mark Twain house in my hometown of Hartford, CT. I paid about $50 for the night to stay in the mini mansion . I asked the owner at breakfast if he minded telling me what the value of the house was. He reported around $125,000. I gasped. He then told me how that rust belt area had become filled with deserted plants and had shut down to set up off-shore. Workers no longer had those solid middle income factory jobs. A few decades later, his wife ran for president and in her run, called those MAGA supporters of Trump “The Deplorables,” mostly white, uneducated, now lower income the same group that lost their solid middle incomes under Bill Clinton. That group formed the bases of Trump’s base.
When Joe Biden refused to stem the tide of hundreds of thousands rushing the border, it became a political issue. It’s no wonder that this group is so hardened against a political party that ruined them and will not listen to reason. They have been thoroughly abandoned and insulted by the party that once supported them and their once good paying jobs.
This is the explanation to my fellow hard-headed dense democrats that just don’t understand why a large segment of the population will support a facist-like movement that does not have their interests at heart. It’s a bit confounding isn’t it — both sides, one side being the wronged and the other side being unable to grasp what the hell has happened. Go ahead ladies and gentlemen, have at me. I tell the truth.
I think the immigration problem is overplayed, legal and otherwise, they commit fewer crimes than average Americans, play a vital role in esp the agricultural sector, doing jobs most Americans refuse to do. Studies show they provide a net economic gain, pay taxes, and so on. So Americans scream they're stealing jobs when in fact USA is in virtual full employment. Murdering criminal millions, give us a break! The immigration system does need fixing, simply staunching the inflow of mainly economic migrants with walls et al won't solve the problem. USA needs to figure out better how to meet its own employment needs when its native population cannot adequately step up to the plate. Their is a solid reason why mainly economic migration from Mexican and Latino countries has been a "thorn" for more than a couple generations now. Trump and Maga have made perceived grievances a major touchstone of their campaign. Sadly, it's paid off dividends, in spades. Sounds to me it's more about racism, than economics.
It is. Tom Schiller and Paul Waldman recently published a book titled “The Roots of White Rural Rage.” People in rural areas listen to different media outlets that city people, and they have been red a constant stream of culture war propaganda that has encouraged them to vote against their economic interests. Rural areas are badly hit when farms consolidate into mega farms, factories close, young people leave for cities, and they vote for the very people who cause these problems. The propagandists have no interest in solving these problems, but want to exploit them on their behalf.
Which is why Blue Tennessee (www.bluetennessee.org) among others is addressing rural needs. Jess Piper did a great interview this week with Tom Vilsack, discussing rural issues and how they can be addressed.
I grew up on a farm, working in the fields. My parents aspired to more for me than manual labor in the fields, which simply does not pay enough to eat and live indoors at the same time. In eastern NC, where I live, there are a large number of factory farms and meat processing plants. Those jobs are dirty and physically demanding. The locals, who already lived in the area, didn’t want to work at meat processing plants. Is that what you would want for your child? Immigrants came to fill those jobs. They didn’t take jobs from locals. Deport those immigrants, and who will do those difficult jobs?
Right on Frank. Of course it's about racism and the hate and divisiveness that accompanies it.
But the economy will suffer as a consequence of closing the borders. And is it even possible to deport even 10,000 migrants? Who is going to accept them and if we just dump them in Venezuela, Haiti and Central America for starters these countries will all turn them away. If they do accept them, they will be harshly dealt with in all of the usual ways a dictatorship deals with them.
I have worked with literally hundreds of immigrants as a computer consultant, plus we have hired several dozen more to work at our home. We would still be waiting for a roof in Florida if not for immigrants and the quality of work is as good or better than native born Americans. Y2K opened the door for Indian programmers (and other nationalities) with the H2B programs. It was an ugly transition in the 1990's because of the communication barrier.
Anyway, if you deport brown people you lose a large portion of our productive workforce in almost EVERY occupation. My primary care doctor is an immigrant from Columbia. She actually saved my life plus she is fluent in several languages. It is actually selfish of me, to use her when there are relatively few doctors that serve the Hispanic community.
We all know they can't deport immigrants, legal or illegal, and we likely can't even put them in camps. So is the alternative the Fascist solution to just kill them?
Thanks for all that info, Gary! I suspect you mean 10 million, and Trump has been gaslighting 20-30 million. The logistics and the reaction of foreign governments will make a mockery of these threats.
Gary Loft: Under TFG, he'll allow the military to do just that-that way no expense for food, water, etc. Whether the military will blindly follow orders, even if unlawful, is unknowable.Think of the psychic trauma that will be inflicted on those soldiers.
Agreed, Frank. As usual, Mr. Katz simply repeats what trompy and the rest of the MAGAs want everybody to be talking about instead of issues that are greater threats to us all. Immigration is certainly important, but it's far less so than the loss of basic rights, freedoms, safety, etc. And if it were more important, then the Republicans would have taken up and voted to approve the bipartisan-drafted bill that Biden said he's signed, am I right?
Biden was absent for almost 3 years on topic. And as usual, Mr. Katz repeats the unblemished truths about our politics which is that we are a fractured society and perfectly timed to get worked by the hidden puppeteers that are also pulling your strings, too.
Please tell me in very simple words how President Biden was absent for three years Bill. Are you saying this country, that has completely recovered from the pandemic economic slump the entire world experienced, has at the same time, stood still? All the leading economic indicators would have to challenge your words here. People are always going to bitch and main about gas and food prices-like when haven’t they? As for NAFTA, the idea began in the Reagan administration, at first as an agreement between Canada and the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Free_Trade_Agreement?wprov=sfti1#Negotiation,_signing,_ratification,_and_revision_(1988%E2%80%9394)
It ended up on Pres. Clinton’s desk after Mexico, Central and South America were added by Bush, Sr.
All the off shoring to so many other countries didn’t happen because of NAFTA.
Yes, exactly - and meanwhile he can explain to us his deep wisdom about these hidden puppeteers of which he has such privileged knowledge. Please, do discourse and enlighten us poor unwashed and barefoot pilgrims.
Per recommendation of my physician, I can’t get near you least I become infected with unknown diseases. And I left my bullhorn at home. Next time, though.
SPW, I am of course addressing the border issue only not the very good legislation he enacted. I don’t spend all day watching news but I get my feeds from New York Times, public TV News Hours, CBS and NBC Nightly news, Mother Jones and other places but not Fox for sure. And they all reported at various times, incursions at the border. That’s how I reasoned that Biden did little for three years on the border issue. At one time I even foolishly sent comments on an approach to helping to address issues by proposing with our Central American friends a Marshall-like plan to help build and stabilize Central America. I was also in favor of a multinational force to invade and overthrow the rogue Venezuelan government. I still believe that should be an option to consider. Now do I sound better?
We have no "open borders" in America! We have thousands of border agents working throughout America who protect our border. Yes, many immigrants are arriving but also many are being caught and sent back. People just see the flow into our country but ignore the sizable number of immigrants who return via deportation or their personal decision ... millions!
The only entity that is broadcasting an "open border" are Republicans and their complicit media outlets like Fox or social media platforms. NO Democrat has uttered the word. Biden at many times discouraged any immigrants from crossing our border. Blame Republicans for higher number of immigrants, NOT democrats. AND realize the majority immigrants crossing our border are doing it LEGALLY and state their asylum status ... a legal process in present laws. Want to change the laws and upgrade our immigration laws? Have the GOP pass the comprehensive immigration reform bill they have ignored to sign via bad advice from Trump.
comment from Wa-Po comment section about Elon Musk being here illegally, working on a student visa.
I have concluded that Mr. Katz is a one-trick pony (or perhaps, Trojan horse) who comes here to repeat ad nauseam the same Republican talking points in order to derail thoughtful conversations. I engaged with him once and have resolved never to do it again, no matter how much he needs rebuttal.
Agree, Monsieur, most definitely I agree on not contacting you again. As to one-trick phony? You must have eaten your morning wheaties with McDonald’s tainted onions.
Ooof, could you be more pretentious than to use Monsieur when you probably don't even know French, and beside the point, can you offer anything of substance for rebuttal beyond snide ad hominem deflections?
It's the fear mongering that Trump does. Saying "illegal alliens" will come into your kitchen and slit your throat! Everyone knows this is not true but say it enough and people believe them. Do you think the people who support MAGA see or hear info like what you stated on your comment? Absolutely not. My husband is a Trump supporter Fox watcher. The drumbeat on Fox is fear. They do portray Democrats as communists as well as equal to the devil. People who watch this don't see any other source of "news" as I'm sure you know. I've got my husband watching a Spectrum News channel for bipartisan info but it doesn't change his mind. He was a housepainter and lost his job to those who would accept pay @ half what he received and they happened to be immigrants. People like him have a grudge and Trump feeds it. So sorry for venting but I'm so terrified of fascism.
To be slightly objective here, the immigrant "problem" is quite real. There are in fact at least several million possibly almost ten million undocumented immigrants in the US today. Under the current law, almost every one of those people are subject to arrest and deportation. This is absolutely without regard to ANY logical or rational justification for enforcing the law. Enforcing the law is always theoretically the right thing to do unless you believe the law is unconstitutional. And in general our immigration laws are not unconstitutional, just unenforced.
So trump, if elected will be completely within his rights and in fact may be legally correct to massively enforce the immigration laws. Will he be "right" in the moral sense? Maybe not. Will he be right in the political sense? That remains to be seen. But he will almost certainly be right in the legal sense. And that is technically all the justification he needs to carry out his draconian plan. It is difficult to see any court which would halt his ability to do that (and if they did, I would expect the Supreme Court as it currently exists to reverse quite quickly.
This is why i believe that the best course of action is to repeal all immigration laws and essentially open the borders to anyone with the exception of demonstrable criminals. This would make it much more difficult to attempt mass deportations. By removing the legal basis for such deportations, it would at least become an unlawful act to arbitrarily deport people based on status.
Jon, the undocumented you speak of have jobs and families, with citizen children (assuming they were born here.) Many, if not most, pay taxes and have SS/FICA withheld without access to benefits. Deportation (which you don't advocate, thankfully) would be extremely expensive to the taxpayers and the economy, but opening the borders isn't a solution either. I believe that those presently here (unless they were/are criminals of one sort of another) should be on a path to recognition as citizens. We need a sane, fair and manageable immigration solution without saying "Come one, Come all."
Sorry I don't believe you can really have it " both ways". This just another repeat of the various forgiveness strategies that have been repeated over and over. Don't keep immigrants out because we really DO want them and need them (they obviously take jobs that most Americana don't want) let them sneak in and get settled and then a few years later when there is a political "need" to get even, throw some of them out but let the large majority have amnesty, give them some path to legitimacy, then say "we're closing the borders down now", rinse and repeat. It's getting pretty tiring. In some ways it gives credence to Trump's philosophy, build a huge wall and throw them all out and keep them out. At least he is consistent if terribly wrong IMHO.
You really can't have it both ways. You either have to deport those who are her e illegally or you have to acknowledge that our policies don't work and do trying to keep them out. The rinse and repeat concept of looking the other way for a while, then granting some kind of amnesty for those who were able to get through the obstacles and take up illegal residence is wrong and unfair. I have seen this done several times in my lifetime and I am sick of it. Either do what Trump says and deport every one who is here illegally or cancel the laws and permit unrestricted immigration. I see no other fair and decent alternatives. You know which one I think is right.
The economic reality in my state is that many of the agricultural jobs, on which much of our economy is based, no longer pay enough or appeal to white workers. Nor do the nonunion construction jobs. My neighbor is having his roof replaced down to the trusses and the entire crew is comprised of Spanish speaking workers even though our minimum wage is $15 an hour and there is a construction boom to accommodate all the growth we are experiencing. Without migrant workers, our economy would collapse and your supply of fresh fruit would cost far more than you would want to pay. The town where I grew up was called the fruit bowl of the nation and it got that way because every year migrant workers came to harvest its bounty. It’s now a major producer of wine grapes. So enjoy what our state and its workers provide and stfu with your nonsense.
Wait a holy minute. Are you trying to make me into an anti immigrant voice? Are you kidding? Not at all. Two points I have try to make clear on this issue. First, there is a legal way in and laws should be honored. But even more importantly, the optics bugs the heck out of me and if we think that allowing hundreds of thousands running over hot sand sells to the general public, I have a Brooklyn Bridge for you to buy. I want to say my country. The runners over hot sand must come second to the salvation of my form of government. Sorry if this bothers you.
Yep this is why I favor an open border policy. Get rid of the immigration laws and you get rid of these problems. The very fact that millions of undocumented immigrants can actually get into the country and take up illegal residence without causing a huge serious problem suggests to me that open borders will work much better than deportation. Look at the European union. They opened all they're borders to any one in the union and now their economies are mostly much more vibrant than ours. We need workers and immigrants do a lot of work that most Americans aren't interested in doing.
The town I grew up in turned 400 last year. In that time its economy has gone from extractive ship mast production and fishing, to hard scrabble farming and wool production, to weaving, tanning, shoe and brick manufacturing, and finally making plastic auto parts. All of these went away, with the ensuing pain that always follows economic transitions. The transitions didn't make themselves, however, they required a lot of effort by gritty, determined, fairly well educated people. It now has a very diverse economy that includes being the headquarters of a large insurance company.
NAFTA and globalization facilitated a race to the bottom where almighty capital won, is still winning, despite nearly losing it all in 2008 - when we literally printed money to save overextended (greedy) financial institutions. My town survived globalization because it stopped being a one or two industry town decades ago. The rust belt seems to be diversifying as well, through a lot of hard work and creativity. I just hope they can avoid the 'one industry town' trap that makes us vulnerable to greedy capitalists in the first place.
Supply side economics laid the groundwork for globalization, which hollowed out American manufacturing, which laid the groundwork for the Tea Party, the opioid epidemic (which is dwarfed by the epidemic of alcohol - but we don't talk about that), and a fascist bid to take over our country. Vote Harris/Walz in November.
If you listen to podcasts, Unf*cking the Republic had a really interesting take on the financial crisis: the crazy surge in oil prices driven by financial institutions. Worth a listen.
I am not laughing at you; there is a lot of truth in what you say. Those same rust belt areas were then flooded with opioids and in a way that is what Trump is still doing with his fake promises. I think Harris is recognizing this and trying valiantly to break through that mindset and level the playing field, as it were. Another 4 years of Trump would be a nightmare for this country and the world-just like Hitler was. Last night, I re-watched Gary Oldman as Churchill in His Darkest Hour and there was a line there that struck a chord with me-he that never changes his mind, never changes anything. I am heartened by the number of Republicans who are publicly endorsing Harris and hope we can get to a 54% Dem win so there is no doubt who has won this election-and then the work begins.
Republicans lying again. Biden has largely continued Trump’s migrant policies, but doesn’t separate families. Trump got the Republicans to withdraw their support from an immigration bill so he could use it as a political stalking horse, and they lie about immigrant caravans the way Elise Stefanik did the other day on X. The Republicans have replaced their oaths of office to uphold the constitution and laws of the United States with a private oath of loyalty to an incompetent wannabe dictator.
Speaking of Stefanik - I guess it wouldnt be surprising to hear the views of people who live in and around her district! Another politician who only "serves" herself & tffg and makes it very obvious!
Right?? The politicization of this issue began LONG, L O N G before Joe Biden took office. And it seems that there WAS a bi-partisan bill proposed during Joe’s administration that was denied even being brought up for a vote because Mr Trump rejected the appearance of any kind of win for Democrats before the 2024 election. Hmmm. This issue is largely manufactured as a political argument for campaigning just as abortion WAS and look what ham-handedly handling that looks like! I was never a fan of NAFTA but I believe Joe Biden has done more to right that grievous wrong than anyone since so the argument that Democrats won’t hear what the struggling middle class has to say is faulty also. They’re listening and working to make it better but MAGA is turning their noses up to all of it over an opportunity to make us pay for their losses.
In my reply to Mr Katz, I referred to Wikipedia about the original intent of NAFTA and discovered that NAFTA was the brainchild of the Reagan administration. It’s a fascinating reminder that people could perhaps benefiting by reading.
From CoPilot: Yes, Ronald Reagan first proposed the idea of a North American free trade agreement during his 1980 presidential campaign1
. However, it was during the administration of George H. W. Bush that negotiations began, and the agreement was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 19931
. So, while Reagan planted the seed, it took a few administrations to bring NAFTA to life.
It's an interesting comment isn't it? Sprinkled with a little skewed history. Always as if the person woke up in 1990 and thought everything was brand new.
Candace, Mr. Katz propagates this MAGA assertion frequently (despite my belief he's not MAGA.)
I can only surmise that trompy's statement in 2015 after descending the escalator must have made a favorable impression on him, because that's what he often talks about.
Apparently, I offended him which was not my intention. I was giving my opinion of why he puts forth the opinions that he does. He sent a snarky reply my way. Usually when people on this forum disagree, they do it rather respectfully. He does sometimes make good points, but they are too often (again, in my opinion!) harping on the same point. It reminds me a bit of Trump continuing to beat a dead horse, and I tired of it. I could spend hours reading the comments, so I'm come to mostly just search out people that I am familiar with who I greatly respect. There are some really intelligent people on this forum and I feel like they raise my IQ a point or two by considering their viewpoints.
Miselle, I agree that there’s no place for snarky on Heather’s substack. That kind of adolescent junk belongs in that other grp of t and his three billion blind mice. HCR, you and others deserve the respect you all provide.
Let’s all simply ignore those others who can’t and won’t.
As much as Katz and Phil both about me, your argument is nonsense. They have a much right to be here as you and I and we should at least acknowledge that without proposing turning a deaf ear. That's what "they" do. We become much less of we do the same thing. Argue back, criticize, but acknowledge that they are entitled to disagree just as we are. Sorry this is the kind of approach that makes me feel this is so useless at times. Because people do not want to listen to what they dislike.
Well, I hit a nerve. Maybe he's having a bad day, who knows? I like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I have nice conversations and discussions with lots of people on the forum, and every now and then, people have different opinions. To me, some of his statements seem to be intentionally inflammatory. I don't care for those type and saw them so frequently that I skip over his posts. That was the issue with his substack as well, which is why I unsubscribed. Perhaps it's my own nerves being on edge these days as well, but I am trying to avoid stuff that I find too upsetting.
Pretty much every one (or at least most) of Phil's comments includes direct attacks on the standardized testing in modern schools and the "elimination" (his words) of humanities from school curriculum. It isn't completely wrong either, but it gets monotonous. At least to me.
This is an important reminder of where we got where we are, but you seem to have left out the role of Reagan, the supply-siders, and decades of Republican dominance. Why are they forgiven? Why does all the blame fall on Bill and Hillary in your telling?
The problem, to my mind, is always the desire for corporate power. And that lies in the apologies of economics, which isn't a science, as much as they try to make it one.
The laws are written around the rights of property owners, not stakeholders. Shareholders, not stakeholders. Shareholders have nothing in the game but money, and can fleewith it on any whim.
Stakeholders are the customers, employees, residents. Those who bought the products, supply the parts, live with the factory.
Shareholders should be the last in line, not the first.
Well I certainly disagree with this. Shareholders are the life blood of a capitalist economy I don't love it but it's true. Without their money the companies would cease to exist. I agree stakeholders are important too and have been ignored for too long but putting shareholders last would be tragic to the economy. Better would be to include both at the same level of importance. That would be a better capitalist solution, acknowledging the importance of stakeholders without relegating the people whose money makes it possible to last place. (And this from a communist like myself LOL).
Consider that the prolific Bill Katz seems to be a white man, so he prefers to focus on very recent U.S. history. He might benefit from going back to the time of the War Department memo, March 1945, and acknowledging that fascism's first cousin was already entrenched in the U.S. South under the name of Jim Crow, and its influence affected the national government and the country at large. It greatly influenced the New Deal before WW2 and the GI Bill after it.
exactly! IMO it started with the sham trickle-down economics theory from Reagan, Thatcher and Mulroney. Prior to that we had vibrant cities, lots of union jobs, healthy middle class. But the oligarchs needed more money and then of course they then needed even more and along came NAFTA. Forty + years of a bs economic theory and the chickens have come home to roost. And the oligarchs keep gaslighting the public to believe it's the immigrants' fault ,those on welfare and maje you turn a blind eye to those who ate actually gouging us...corporations. The oligarchs are running the show in America and globally
You only mentioned the migration “crisis” because there is no real crisis. If there were, the bipartisan border bill would have been signed instead of squashed under trump’s demand because it was an issue he could run on. He inflates numbers and exaggerates small issues that could be dealt with under normal circumstances but because the House is tied into MAGA knots and the Senate pretty close to the same, very little can happen. Don’t even get me going on the Supreme Court; and I use the descriptor of “supreme” very loosely.
In a simplified fashion, I drew a line between the downside of NAFTA (American workers losing income) and her “deplorables.” We would have been better without them in my opinion, of course.
@ Bill Katz, in Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” speech, she didn’t call Trump supporters who were in despair because they had lost their good jobs “deplorables.” In fact, she said “those are people we have to understand and empathize with.” She specifically defined “the basket of deplorables” as half of Trump’s supporters who were “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic – you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people – now have 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive hateful mean-spirited rhetoric. Now, some of those folks – they are irredeemable, but thankfully, they are not America.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basket_of_deplorables
But the "basket of deplorables" was such a wonderful gift/phrase for the Repubs! Three words out of an entire paragraph/statement! Just like the clips that faux and its "followers" pick up on today. I think that there should be better comebacks from the Dems. They do lack a bit of that kind of reaction.
Thanks Ellen for the link - HERE IS THE ACTUAL SPEECH!
At an LGBT campaign fundraising event in New York City on September 9, Clinton gave a speech and said the following:[11]
I know there are only 60 days left to make our case – and don't get complacent; don't see the latest outrageous, offensive, inappropriate comment and think, "Well, he's done this time". We are living in a volatile political environment.
You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. (Laughter/applause) Right? (Laughter/applause) They're racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic – you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people – now have 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive hateful mean-spirited rhetoric. Now, some of those folks – they are irredeemable, but thankfully, they are not America.
But the "other" basket – the other basket – and I know because I look at this crowd I see friends from all over America here: I see friends from Florida and Georgia and South Carolina and Texas and – as well as, you know, New York and California – but that "other" basket of people are people who feel the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures; and they're just desperate for change. It doesn't really even matter where it comes from. They don't buy everything he says, but – he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different. They won't wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroin, feel like they're in a dead-end. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well.
And just in case you might think I’m a troll Russian plant, I spent 3 struggling years writing about the evils of Donald Trump. My credentials are clean.
I agree, Bill. When I was working as a lobbyist in Michigan, I sat stunned as our Democratic governor Granholm announced in a meeting that our auto workers would be sent back to college to learn how to be computer technicians. With that, she denigrated a whole, hard working class of Michiganders. Over the next decade, Trump had ready recruits.
So what’s the problem with learning new information if that will enable a person to make a better living? Were such folks just being hard-headed or stupid? Many of us have done the very same things on our own. Good lord! What an ignorant excuse for being short-sighted or lazy.
You must then be trolling in support of the Navalnyites. Bravo ! We will win because we must. 1776 was a very tough year, too as were 1777, 78…. Until the Treaty of Paris. We must always boldly look at what we have wrought and be willing to say: “How little I truly know” and correct course with honesty and humility. We can all do this when we don’t care who is right. The who part doesn’t matter to me, does it matter to any of you? I don’t think it ever mattered to BEN franklin, either.
No person is perfect, no President is perfect. Some of Bill Clintons' presidential decisions were wrong. I have always believed that Hillary is the smarter half of that couple.
But, that aside, nothing Bill Clinton did was as harmful to our middle class as what Ronald Regan did during his presidency. You ever rant about that?
Bill...I would argue that Hillary Clinton's mistake was giving Donald and his team something to twist. Here is what she said, what she called out. I fully agreed with her and then some.
1) It was twisted into she is calling all of you (maga) deplorable and they believed it.
2) those who are deplorable didn't like being called out.
So anytime this came up in conversation I was having I would say #1? or #2?, which are you? I usually got blank stares.
Immigration...been a problem for a very long time. And it will get worse because the climate is a changing!
Although just the other day I talked with a coworker who is from Ecuador. She came here legally. Took her 5 years. She is not happy with people who enter and stay illegally. I get that, but she wasn't too sympathetic to those running for their lives. She told me that she was running for her life. Her father was a politician who was murdered. To her there is no excuse.
"Refused to stem the tide" of immigrants. As someone who reads Heathers work, you cannot be so uninformed as to think this tide of immigrants is new. Or that we can interfere with their travel in other countries. Or that there isn't a good reason they are fleeing the fascism and economic destruction in their own countries.
Otherwise your comments re NADTA are well placed. I'd propose the idea that it was the turnover of our national interest to corporations to benefit their shareholders and CEOs, who pillage their companies with stock bonuses that were actually illegal until Reagan. Governing for the benefit of the wealthy has never turned out well. And here we are again.
It all comes down to money, and the greed of those who, like Musk and dumpty and all the rest, already have more than enough but hunger for yet more.
While he is not a troll, I think he sometimes writes to rile people up to get responses and gin up subscribers for his own substack. He certainly spends a LOT of time putting many, many comments on the forum. I often reply to folks on this forum, many who write their own substacks, and when I replied to him, I was surprised to get a message asking me to subscribe to his!
I skip past all of his diatribes now, in fact, the only reason I stopped her was as I scrolled I noticed your first sentence and went back to see who you were replying to.
Well I’m glad you didn’t sign up. How’s dat. Those of us who write, are always promoting themselves. Stop being silly. If your not a writer, you wouldn’t understand and I guess you’re not.
Y’all seem to have blanked out the time period 2021 through 2023. The nightly news broadcasts. The News Hour and so on and it’s as if this period where Biden was not interested satisfying the public’s need to see him act and y’all have the blinders on because think you are correct and everyone else is wrong. So if Trump wins, I welcome you to the New Snazzy Nazi States of America. Enjoy. If you link arms on the dance floor and in unison, kick you legs up as high as they will go, and do what you are told, you will be alright otherwise, you will be sent to detainment camps to be re-educated.
So, Bill, any President is able to make sweeping changes ALL BY HIMSELF?
Really? Going against the Repubs & sadly some of his own party and just DOING it.
There are many issues that I disagree with Biden on, some issues I disagreed with Obama on - but a president isnt KING! It requires cooperation from far too many different individuals and groups. You know this!
And, yeah - tffg will correct that if he gets in. And will "king" himself and his vp. Do we all have to march in locked step behind Biden or Harris? NOPE - but thats what the dumpster will demand.
So, you know what? Democrats need to stick together - somehow they always have factions that pull them apart - why is it that Repubs dont? We are seeing the locked steps in that party right now.
I agree 100% - very well said. Clinton’s NAFTA signing was the beginning of a whole-hearted embrace by the Democratic Party of a capitalist system that prioritizes wealth concentration by a few rather than the well-being of many - especially rural white communities. While I don’t think Trump’s policies will help them one bit (will in fact hurt them) he speaks in language that acknowledges the real economic struggle they feel.
Both parties (IMO) engage in a “don’t look up” strategy to prevent people from noticing that we live under an economic system that has created an unprecedented concentration of wealth at the top … a system of unregulated capitalism that leaves most of us now vulnerable to the impact of venture funds buying up our health care systems, our housing, food sources, vets, (the list goes on and on). Funds that are required to worship at the alter of fiduciary duty (financial return) rather than the well-being of us all. The fact that Kamala couldn’t answer Anderson Cooper’s question about how she was going to address the high price of milk (her answer talked about regulating price gauging during times of crisis - nothing about during regular times) is a perfect example of why this race is so close! It was such a prime opportunity for her to speak to these broader economic issues at play.
Kate, I suppose if I were running for President, I wouldn’t expound on why it’s not possible for me to succeed in solving that (or many other legitimate issues because….rich people, Capitalism, corruption amongst SCOTUS and GOP, etc. I would think, rightly, that voters wouldn’t want to hear about all the things I can’t do when my opponent says he can fix everything.
You’re right - it’s not an easy answer. But I think her ability to speak to people about this type of issue is critical to her succeeding - and she doesn’t seem to be able to do it (I’m not sure why - she could craft an answer that makes people feel “heard”). My guess is that guy asking the question about milk prices sat down unconvinced she would do anything about it. That makes it a lost opportunity.
And the 3 strikes your out program which incarcerated more African American males. And the “ending welfare as we have known it” program. Well that program wasn’t that ill conceived since it forced my lazy sister of social welfare and to go get a job.
You do know that NAFTA was written and negotiated by GHW Bush, following an initiative by Ronald Reagan, right? Clinton brought it across the finish line…yet he is given full credit for its impact on America. And the other drivers of rust belt decline, including globalization, the buyout boom and financialization of deregulated capital markets, and the collapse of the union movement…all predated his signature on that line. The anecdote you tell draws wrong conclusions from the faulty recollection of history…the narrative that Republicans are the better stewards of America’s economic prosperity and that Democratic spending leads to a decline in “freedom” is one the GOP had used effectively since Reagan showed up.
Oh my God no. I understand and understood that Reagan was a complete disaster. I don’t have all the historic answers. I don’t come from academia. I’m not a historian nor social scientist. But I do try to think for myself outside the boundaries of partisanship. And I do adjust my beliefs when necessary. A side note, in 2015, Senator Sherrod Brown was showing signs of running for president. In my humble opinion he would have made a great president. And he would have won.
I couldn't agreed more with you regarding the devastating effects of Clinton's policies, but since in the democracy there's always room for correction and change of course as Biden- Harris had done to revert the situation you described. The only thing left is to apologize and push forward.
On “The Dragon’s Den” TV show investors consistently told inventors that they would support their manufactured product ideas only if they were made in China. Cheap labor meant high profit margins. “Dollar” stores sprung up everywhere. Happy days. Everyone likes a deal, me too, but we just can’t admit that we all sat back as the rugs under our feet were yanked away.
There's no argument that will ever convince the people who were harmed by NAFTA that they should support a Democrat, because Clinton was in office when it was signed? Do they know that the idea was largely Republican originated and supported by Reagan and Bush Sr,? Do they understand that if Republicans get their way, Unions will be eliminated, and labor protections and safety regulations will be a thing of the past? What do you think Democrats need to do to win them over, given that their major grievance against Democrats is a Republican policy?
Louise, if I could answer the questions you pose I think I would package them and sell them. As I’ve said before, people vote emotional they rarely vote using reason. They will vote themselves right into the hands of their executioners. This struggle on the right mostly, is only about money and power. Money through power. Nothing else is important. But it’s important for democrats to try and guess which programs should be pulled back because they don’t sell. For instance, Reparations will never sell. They are even losing support of Black men who woulda thought. We need to stop the foolishness of allowing bio men or trans women whatever, into girls showers. No nonono. Give them their own shower stall if needed but keep them out of the girls room. And don’t misunderstand maiming facor or rights for all but particularly women’s rights.
I would love to see this pamphlet reprinted and widely available. The polarization is palpable and likely to assume greater strength regardless of the election's victor.
I’m still on that wagon Ruth..still believing we can learn how to be happier with ‘enough’, we’ve certainly had enough of war, hatred, my way or the highway people.
You ask the Q, Steve, "How can so many well-educated people be so cruel and reckless . . . ?"
Answer: by the Powell memo plan issued August 23, 1971, and its phalange of far-right foundations such as The Heritage Foundation, the Hoover Institute, ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council, and eventually many more, all filthy-rich-mega-funded, up to and including The Federalist Society.
Yeah, Phil, they’ve been working on this for a long long time. Still think Will Rogers had the right idea to give the money to poor because it will end up in the hands of the rich soon enough…..given to the rich, mostly they don’t share the wealth & no “trickle down” happens. Fascinating to study, but crap to actually live through. Sigh.
There are nations in which a few families are mega rich, while most live in squalor. Reagan's promised utopia (literally no-place) has never existed, and their was never a reasonable argument it ever would. Big Lies and Republican enabled plutocratic takeover of the "free press" have brought us to our current dilemma
As an example, it was the poverty in El Salvador, with 16 families owning most of the wealth, that caused the people to support revolution in the late 1970s. Reagan could not look beneath the Communist-Capitalist dichotomy to see what the root causes were. The late Jeane Kirkpatrick shamefully attacked the memories of the three sisters and one lay worker who were murdered by Salvadoran soldiers we ourselves had trained. St. Óscar Romero was murdered as he said Mass by Roberto D’Aubuisson for the “crime” of thinking the Salvadoran people deserved lives of dignity.
I would add Phil that Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a one page essay when imprisoned by the Nazis in 1943 that I did not mention called On Human Stupidity, which explains how intelligent people can believe the most foolish things. You should be able to find it online - it is worth a read.
The other concerning fears I have is for the elimination of basic public goods like the NEH, NEA, and NPR, not to mention the Department of Education and possibly EPA. The looming horror I didn't mention, beyond obvious nuclear destruction, is if Putin attacks Poland then Europe - particularly Germany, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, will be in for a massive refugee crisis.
Any one or all of the things mentioned in my comment above, plus the ones here, would be catastrophic in and of itself.
thank you for sharing this! As a side note: in the city of Muenster, Germany there is a district where my aunt lived where there is Bonhoeffer Strasse and other streets named after those that tried to defend democracy during WWII.
Thx for referencing Dietrich Bonhoeffer-one of my personal heroes and a Lutheran saint of blessed memory. I’m an ELCA pastor-ordained almost 40 years ago. I’m proud of the statement our Conference of Bishops put out recently condemning the normalization of lies and disinformation. (I wish it had come out sooner, but grateful nonetheless). Silence is complicity-and democracy dies not only in darkness, but also in silence. Our task is to boldly speak out against the hatred that has become regularized and continue to pursue democracy, kindness, compassion, decency, and integrity that create a better community for all. Again, thanks, Steve. Bonhoeffer was and is a gift to the world. (And folks, the new movie is a bastardization of his legacy-his family has written a letter condemning it as a political tool for the extremist right.)
I wish the USCCB would condemn Trump. They try to paper over their internal differences, but the reality is that too many of them want us to vote to agree with a candidate over pelvic politics, and some have become Trump groupies. I can’t in good conscience ignore Trump’s general unsuitability to be president. He will end 235 years of Constitutional government, which admittedly wasn’t always present for marginalized people.
There is a street in Muenster Germany named Bonhoeffer Strasse, in a district with other streets names after resistors in WWII . A city my aunt lived and where I once worked
Definately elimination of the EPA as well. My dad, an environmental engineer for Dow Chemical, represented the Chemical Manufacturing Association when EPA was formed, and worked with Anne Gorsuch and Rita Lavelle to implement the Superfund law, a law which neither Anne or Rita supported.. He thought that little Neil was very nice, though.
I worry about that as well. Eric Metaxas is a Trump groupie and Christian Nationalist writer who published a very flawed and panned Bonhoeffer biography. I think he should read the essay and ponder it, but I doubt he will. Metaxas’s Bonhoeffer biography was panned by Bonhoeffer scholars because they understood that he hadn’t read a lot of Bonhoeffer’s work, and had not read it in detail. The book is rather less about the historical Bonhoeffer than it is about Metaxas’s views. He labors under the misconception the Democratic Party is totalitarian, when it’s his own Republican Party that has ceased to believe in government of, for and by the people. He and his buddy Sean Feucht get mad at the use of the term Christian Nationalism, but it accurately describes their views.
Phil, you did not mention the august institution that (literally) crowned all these efforts: the US Supreme Court, the guardian of the Constitution and the rule of law.
I was deeply shocked by my own assertion that the Justices' recent decision protecting the rights and privileges of the President by granting immunity for official acts in effect restated the central Nazi tenet, Führerprinzip, according to which the leader can do no wrong, being above the Law.
While one can see some counter-arguments, I'd feel safer if someone could persuade me conclusively that my statement is mistaken.
* * *
As for today's Letter from an American, how can it be distributed to all members of the armed forces? Perhaps via an official organ? In any case, readers should send it to all military personnel they know.
This letter does indeed merit a far broader circulation.
* * *
I am familiar with Pastor Bonhoeffer's essay which I read with great interest as I have long held my own views on the same subject.
I agree wholeheartedly with Sonia Sotomayor’s dissenting opinion in U.S. v. Trump. Any decision that places a president above the law is blatantly ignoring the Constitutional limits the founders intended for the presidency. They never intended for presidents to be above the law, but here we are. The names of the justices who supported this shameless power grab deserve to live in infamy.
Phil- Roberts has been on this executive power- theocratic side for decades. The only difference is that now he has a majority and no longer needs to be incremental about it. Read American Crusade by Seidel. It’s the Roberts Court unleashed.
Once again Peter I agree with you that this letter in particular needs to be spread deep and far especially to military personnel.
I still cannot believe the signs I see around here: Vets for T…..
I’ve been reading S Lewis’ It Can’t Happen Here on kindle. I also have Bonhoeffer in my k library, which because of your post, I’ll return to and read on today.
You and others are educating me in the best and most profound way at this critical time. Thank you.
From the project2025[dot]org website: “Advisory Board - A broad coalition of over 100 conservative organizations has come together to form the project pillars.”
Actually, now over 110 groups with successful track records, including the ones you mentioned. The vast right-wing conspiracy isn’t hiding.
But for decades -- even as they hired 1,000s of lobbyists swamping Washington, D.C. -- no one knew how organized these post-Powell memo far-right foundations were.
Wendell Berry, Diane Ravitch, Kurt Andersen, and several others who wrote seminal books on the damages being done -- not any of them for a long, long time knew how these damages were all orchestrated by that Powell memo, how all those far-right foundations were all along working in concert.
I just completed a whirlwind "discussion" on CoPilot (Microsoft's AI) re the Powell Memo. The memo leads directly to Project 2025. Thanks for pointing to the memo.
These various funded institutions are not official government foundations, and all have come up with various ways to empower billionaires and corporations at the expense of everyone else.
Always, always these American privateers -- or, better, call them pirates -- playing the alternative government, answerable only to big money and often undermining, even sabotaging the work of the Federal Government...
Thank you for putting it so plainly. One more question. For those of us who have children and grandchildren - what do we tell them that we did to fight this nightmare existence?
Another department that Project 2025 will eliminate is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, known as NOAA - as in NOAA Weather! Yes - the agency that tracks hurricanes & tornadoes & sends out the weather bulletins to TV & radio stations. That department will be privatized!
My husband & I were sailors for well over 20 years. And before we ever left our house in Maine to drive down to our mooring in Southwest Harbor, we always listened to NOAA radio on our Weather One Radio, to hear the forecast of the winds, tides & other crucial information that NOAA provides to fishermen, lobstermen & pleasure- boaters like us that might literally save our lives.
Now some private company will monetize the weather report.
KMD, my Dad was a meteorologist; trained as a MetTech in WWII, he had a 30+ year career in the Weather Bureau, then NOAA. He was one of the first on the west coast trained in the use of Doppler radar for forecasting.
Its already happened. All of the alternate weather services are platformed off the original NOAA service. I think it was done thru questionable legal means and appropriations in court.
Ed Bernays, Walter Lippman fine-tuned the techniques of "persuasion", examined later by Ed Herman & Chomsky in "Manufacturing Consent" and "Necessary Illusions", broadcast on the Canadian CBC Massey Lecture series, 1988.
This is a powerful description of the many deleterious things that realistically might happen IF Trump/MAGA Republicans get into power after the November election. The first step of problem solving is to identify the problem. Then we figure out ways to solve it, or better yet, prevent it. Such is the task we’ve been facing for years now, and most urgently, have another 9 days ahead.
Even with the best outcome of Democrats in control of the Presidency and Congress, MAGA and their moneyed supporters will not disappear. We will need to fill in the cracks, bolster the norms routinely exploited by Trump and his minions. The longer term answer of mitigating this fascist movement is to educate the people—starting with children—about civics, history, responsibility, empathy, egalitarianism, and constructive life-affirming constructive problem solving. Education happens both in schools and in families’ homes.
With the worst outcome of MAGA control, we refresh our understanding of Timothy Snyder’s short book, On Tyranny, starting with “Do not obey in advance,” and do resistance, individually and organized. (Independent book sellers—no more Amazon.)
In any case, as Heather periodically says in her Facebook chats, we have the numbers and the power of the majority. MAGA and Trump are loud bullies who revel in attention and fear mongering. The Harris-Walz campaign has been terrific at calling them out, shrinking them. Our challenge is to continue to mobilize our numbers and build our strength. We have the momentum.
I hate to tell you his, Ellie, but Amazon is the only place that treats authors fairly. They always sell everything they buy, no returns (which are financed from the author's royalties), and they always pay the publisher on time - none of that gets done by the so-called independent bookstores, which are usually under-capitalized and many of them finance their purchases with "return credit." And they don't always pay on time. And their selection is hardly ever "everything." And "no more Amazon" won't hurt Amazon. But you'll get to feel righteous over having less. I wish I was wrong but I'm not.
Tom Part of me is revolted by Bezos and Amazon and the impact of local bookstores. I have fond memories of hours in Foyles in London and Kramer in D. C. Discovering Abe Books (now owned by Amazon) permitted me to obtain rare books in Australia and elsewhere.
The raw truth is that when I wish to buy a book (or search for a book), I go to Amazon. The book arrives within several days and, with Prime, I don’t pay shipping.
Also, though I do it less now than in past years, I have reviewed many dozens of books on Amazon.
My wife laments that she doesn’t buy books from a fine local bookstore. So do I. But the availability of so many books on Amazon, the reviews of these books, and swift delivery render me an Amazon devotee.
You've described it. If people want to hate a "piggy booksore" that really is piggy, hate Barnes & Noble, which does every one of the things I listed above - they over-order and then finance their new purchases with "return credit," they hardly ever pay on time. It wasn't Amazon that killed the good bookstores, it was B&N that bought out and killed Borders and Crown and all the others.
This is accurate. Having created a successful booksellers global market, aren’t Amazon trying to recalibrate their corporate e market model by opening local bricks and mortar bookshops ? I believe starting in Seattle.
I did not know that they had chosen such a narrow literary bandwidth to sell. Failed deservedly then. Pity, as they could have used their position to reverse the global monopolization paradigm in book selling.
TC, all of us who have to deal with publishers these days are stuck with Amazon, as is anyone who wants to see better television than the muck produced here in the USA, because services like BritBox and Acorn work with Amazon (which has long been an international company, so simply not using it here in the US does nothing). Indeed, I consider the publishers themselves to be the ones who are abusing authors, as in academic and academic-adjacent publishing we get a pittance in royalties on books that are priced at obscene levels no academic can actually afford--and libraries are no longer willing to pay. And why? Because those publishers find they can make a whole lot more money breaking books up and selling them chapter by chapter as e-book "packets" to readers and students. This is also why the market for not-quite-illegal online libraries (like Z-brary) exist. Moreover, unlike the Walton family and all those old brick and mortar mega bookstores like B&N, Amazon (which also owns Whole Foods) pays their employees very well and provides them with excellent benefits. Granted: this tactic is designed to discourage them from joining unions, but I have people in my life whose ability to survive is dependent on Amazon and so I keep on using them. When I was living in a very rural area and the nearest decent bookstore (a Borders) was 100 miles away, I, along with everyone else at the university where I was teaching, were utterly dependent on Amazon. So yes, it sucks that we have to deal with a hypocritical arse like Bezos, but he is getting the heat because he owns a newspaper. What about all the companies that are bending the knee to CFDT who are out of the spotlight but still essential to our survival?
My main point was, after sounding the alarm, take the next step of problem solving. “No more Amazon” is one idea among many, and all of these ideas are subject to ongoing adjustments according to what is and is not working.
Siva Vaidhyanathan (via Rebecca Skolnit via Robert Hubbell reader Kathleen Berry) pointed out that Bezos’s profits come from 7,500 government offices and agencies tied to Amazon Web Services—so that’s where we follow the money more effectively:
Knowing that you are a successful author, I appreciate your insights, and I believe you.
I am an unpublished writer. I have written three manuscripts since the start of COVID. One was professionally edited by an editor who was recommended to me by a midlist author of over 25 novels.(Another published author who I met and have exchanged emails offered an introduction to her editor as well.)
The editor gave me insightful criticisms, some flattering praise, and ultimately said he gages my work worthy of publishing, but I am stymied at the task of securing the absolutely required agent. I never knew HOW many genres of literature exists and how agents often represent only one type of work. (For example, just in "romance" there is "sweet" romance (Amish type, no sex) YA (which might have a bit of sex) LGBTQ+ (which has every subgenre that exists in that community) Regency romance (royalty) and interspecies (Twilight series). I'm sure you know this, Tom, I include that for any others who might read this comment.
I have toyed with going via Amazon--but everywhere I research, I hear the sad truth that the average self published author sells about 200 books. Depressing thought, when the editing cost me $6000 (I had come into a tiny bit of money to fund this, and truly, it was worth every penny). Also, to have a quality, custom designed cover--how many of us judge a book by it's cover?-- and wordsmithing for Amazon would cost another $5000. (Totally true of the two self published authors I know.) Maybe I will consider Amazon. Amazon is also daunting, but I respect your opinions. In the years I've been reading LFAA, your posts are occasionally salty, but IMHO are never wrong.
Actually, Amazon does that better than many but their booklist is so huge they can be hard to find--and they use the same systems as Google and FB when it comes to the logarithms for promoting books to readers. Independent bookstores are good for niche audiences: here in KC there are a number of them that sponsor author readings, focus on BIPOC authors, or LGBTQ+ authors. Supporting them by attending readings and purchasing from them is a good strategy, but in reality the authors don't make any more from books that are sold at full price than they do when Amazon (or B&N) sells at a discount. The retail price means nothing to authors. The publisher's price to bookstores is what counts for royalties. The one thing that does promote books and gets notice is advance pre-sales and pre-orders. And most independent bookstores don't engage in that kind of thing. If you order in advance from the publisher directly or through a vendor like Amazon or one of the independent booksellers that takes pre-orders you are genuinely supporting the authors. Really, the book industry on all levels is pretty much a boondoggle with authors as the victims. I should know: I have published a lot in academic presses that sell commercially and the system totally sucks, no matter the benevolence of a series editor or acquisitions editor.
I have Tim Snyder’s book, and must reread it. The owners of the LA Times and the Washington Post ignored Snyder’s first rule, do not consent in advance.
Good questions, all. Read Philip Roth's little gem, The Plot Against America, a novel that imagines Lindbergh beat Roosevelt in 1940 and made a deal with Hitler. It illustrates how we are one election away from fascism, which we are now. Even if Kamala Harris wins, she and her administration face a daunting task re-educating all of the far right's "patriots."
Trump followers have experienced democracy is not working for improving their lives, because of wealth inequality. Tax cut in the name of stimulating economy is the disguised beginning of the fascism in America. It began with the Reagan administration, I understand.
There is a long history of the work to kill the goose that insisted on laying golden eggs. It’s very clear now that the few big bois want all those eggs for themselves at the expense of the poor goose.
As I said, there are groups in the US who do not care about democracy at all. The Christian Nationalists are ruled by fascists so quite comfortable with fascism in their churches and their lives. They do not care about the Constitution, but the "word of God" as they understand it. In order to get to heaven they feel Trump will enforce the dictates they want to see in place which they believe will get the Lord to take them to heaven. See Andra Watkins,
Then there are the White Power Militias. They also don't care about democracy and want to replace our constitution with their own, after getting rid of non-White, non-Christian, and LGBTQ+ people from the US and then the planet. They want to have a global White Power Nation state that erases the rest of us from this earth. That includes women who are not subservient to them. They see Trump as their ticket to that goal. Hear what Prof. Kathleen Belew, expert on Modern White Power movements says about it in this Fresh Air Interview or read the transcript. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/605661710
Even better is reading her book, Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America. Once you read it, you can see how what she is discussing of the newer plans of the movement is coming alive under Trump. That is the move to enter politics and take over the government from within, still intending to destroy the constitution, but to tone down their racist rhetoric to do so, and to decry immigrants instead of Blacks, and Brown skinned Americans, with the intention of getting rid of the latter but calling them immigrants because anyone who is not White is considered an illegal immigrant.
And, we have the super wealthy, who also don't care about the constitution and are fascists as long as they are the ones in power with their wealth. They see Trump as a means to paying little to no taxes on their accumulating wealth, and allowing their businesses to exploit the rest of us with no interference from the government. There is overlap between all of the groups, and SCOTUS has 6 justices who are members of the first group, and perhaps the last as well.
We have to believe that our country would not be as successful as it is, without there being more people who will support Democracy and Freedom. Fascism is not good for business, not good for economies, not good for creativity, not good for people. We have to believe that once having had a taste of Trump, more people will recognize that he will not be good for them. We have before in 2020. We can do it again.
As their religious leaders are interpreting it to them.
See this latest ProPublica article about Christian Nationalists. It discusses the evolution of CNs and the evolution of the New Apostolic Reformation, tying it into their support of Donald Trump as the leaders tell them to.
As one previously hypnotized by religious zealots, I know the process. Fortunately, it was not around every corner then. There were some sane options. Now, as you document, the organized “Elmer Gantry’s” are family and friends.
Lord, so am I. Cults are anything but fun. It is fear, wrapped in envy, wrapped in hate for anything “other.” Didn’t take me long to decide that anything other was better…
So what do we do? I got to hear Harris and Michelle Obama speak here in Michigan yesterday and a part of me wished to never have to leave the auditorium. How can so many be mislead by Trump and his minions? You outline so well everything I fear. I have volunteered and donated to the Harris campaign and am hoping and although I am not particularly religious, praying that Kamala is elected.
Well said. I'm concern we will never get our freedoms back. Unfortunately, as an old baby boomer, I feel like I'm talking to deaf and blind people. They say stupid things like he doesn't mean that. I'm frustrated that they ignore everything Trump, Vance, Musk are saying and doing. They just blindly follow.....right off a cliff. Will people ever trust each other enough to overthrow fascism? Cuba couldn't. God bless America.
Dear Steve: Unfortunately, although you write clearly and I do not enjoy correcting you on this, YOU HAVE SWALLOWED THE COOL-AID of the Oligarchs and the Autocracy. Yes, I read what you said, and I urge you not to give in to their manufactured and propagandized feeling and sense of INEVITABILITY. As many before Tim Snyder have said: In our existence, there is no such thing as inevitable as long as we each maintain our Autonomy and seek new ways to move through and forward. This is what we must all do together now, even if the worst happens on November 5th. This is not a one shot fight, and yes the election is of critical importance, and yes we may still be surprised by the US vote. This will be long term fight and we need to be prepared for it mentally.
For what it is worth I do not think this inevitable. I think it very possible, but not inevitable. I also hold out that we could be in for a pleasant surprise and Harris over-performs and wins substantially. The US will still be in for a rough time, because the GOP will not peacefully respect the results and again much of the country will still not see a Harris presidency as legitimate, no matter how many international observers attest that it is - as was the case for the last election.
But as for the long term, I for one am aware that we are possibly entrusting someone with the temperament and character of a Caligula with the nuclear codes. There may be no "long term". I can never forgive the American electorate for even flirting with this. And on that score, I am on the same page as any sentient, responsible parent on this planet.
Yes. Who knew that so many educated people would be without vision of what catastrophic actions can be expected from a mentally impaired cruel felon and his waiting in the wings VP? A horror show
Sadly, there are many Americans who think the Dems' accusation of fascism are exaggerated, just another partisan ploy. Oddly, one of the networks gave voice to a 40 something male who is voting for the first time, and it's for Trump. I also watched an NBC Charts episode last night where educated business types are voting Trump although they know his economy policies, namely cross the board tariffs and massive immigrant deportations, would be ruinous for the American economy, why it was ruminated, because they don't believe Trump would actually carry through. A LOT of Americans may think Washington is infected with "deep state" radical socialists as Trump rages on about, let alone the sheer to the roof invective he's hurtling at the "stolen election", by this date, quadrupling down on his Big Lie. And, face it, many Americans are indeed virtual Christian nationalists - "God and nation" esp white. And not just men.
Bonhoeffer was right, “under certain circumstances, people are made stupid or rather, they allow this to happen to them.” Propaganda works in the intellectually astute as well as the intellectually vapid. I feel a tinge of misogyny as well, in many who would be incensed at such a statement.
The power of your comment made me cry…literally cry. You have expressed all the fears I have been living with all these many months. I do not have faith in the common sense of the people to work for the common good of all people. When I look at all the younger people at the felon’s rallies who have fallen prey to his hateful rhetoric, I cry all over again. Hate is the legacy that the convicted felon leaves behind.
Thank you for your succinct summary of the core issues which must always be kept in mind as we walk through the next 2 weeks, 2 months, and decades hence. Here’s one grateful shoutout to the teachers who choose to light the way towards clarity in alarming times.
I just sent this to my nephew via his dad, my brother. My nephew has never served his country as his father and grandfather did. His life has been laid out for him with privilege at every turn. He proudly posts on Facebook his allegiance to Trump even as Trump’s closest appointees tell us what they know first-hand.
The freedoms and opportunities my nephew’s father and grandfather protected are still evolving within our democracy as that very democracy stands on the precipice.
Our country is not perfect. History has much to teach us as we continue to form that more perfect Union where we truly recognize our shared future with our brothers and sisters around the world.
Thank you and Heather and all the others here today for history’s clear warning faced by our GREAT USA in 2024. Let’s share this post far and wide!!
A good movie for your nephew to see is “Occupied City” by the director Steve McQueen or “Mississippi Burning” but it sounds like your nephew is locked in.
Some guys are more open to listening to a coach. Here is San Antonio Spurs Coach Greg Popovich on video and a sportswriter’s short article on what Coach Popovich observed about Trump:
Yes, just now reading Joy Reid’s Medgar and Merlie. I am 77 years old and I had no idea how bad it was in Mississippi; I mean I saw a lot of civil rights things in the news when I was in high school but still, the lived lives of Black people in the south… To live with so much fear and misery. It saddens me to my core. 🥲
Brilliant, riveting essay, Ma'am. President Harris will win by five to seven percentage points in the popular vote and earn well over three hundred votes in the Electoral College. Please help me, a contrite conservative, to vote President Harris into the White House and to vote candidate Trump into jail. Please join me in thanking President Biden and thanking G-D for President Biden.
Ned, drove my ballot down to the county elections office last week—BallotTrax has notified me it was received and counted (I’d signed up for it several elections ago) and the county will send me election outcomes as they are available and then a final, official, count result. Felt great to vote for Harris/Walz & my Dem down ballot House/Senate reps (of whom I heartily approve). I have a large sign I made for the 2020 election on 1/4” plywood, about 3’x4’ that says “Democracy or Autocracy Our Choice Vote”. This year I hacked a 2020 Biden/Harris sign (I had a separate Harris/Walz sign up) & cut off Harris’s name & used contact paper to write “Thank Y❤️U Prez” at the top of the Biden name on the sign—then wrapped it in clear packing tape to be water-resistant—and screwed it in at a jaunty angle on my big homemade sign. So far I have had several passersby thank me for acknowledging Biden…sure felt like the right thing to do, so I did!
WOW...I couldn't agree more with Stevens' analysis. Start counting votes with the Biden coalition in 2020. 81 million votes. Kamala has rightly and brilliantly held this coalition together. Just try to estimate how many votes she will add from young, first time voters, women and patriotic x-GOP voters. Aka, The Harris coalition. Then figure out how many voters Trump/Vance might pickup or lose. There aren't enough MAGA, zombie haters out there to defeat Harris/Walz. Not even close. Hilary won by 3 million votes, Biden by 7 million, Harris is likely to win by +10 million.
Sorry Ned, you need to put down the kool aid and start drinking clear water. If Harris wins the electoral college it will be by 2-10 votes at BEST. Any thing more than that will be a stunner. I am still predicting, based on the polls and other salient evidence that she will lose by 10-20 electoral votes. She will still get a majority of popular vote, but probably only 2-3% at best, slightly better than H Clinton, but much less than Biden. Misogyny coupled with racism is very likely to win the day at the finish line.
Big problem with the polls — the respondents are not representative of the demographics actually showing up to vote, and especially not at the voting center I work at in Texas, where they’re definitely not capturing the undeniably large youth vote and female vote.
“other salient evidence”?
Such as? The number of Democratic candidate yard signs / bumper stickers / T-shirts / caps / etc far outweigh those for Republican candidates. The number of people stopping me to tell me how they love my democratic candidate T-shirt, cap, car stickers grows exponentially as we get closer to Election Day. The credibility and volume of endorsements Harris has received compared to Trump plus the credibility and volume of criticism directed at Trump from to who know him best, speaks for itself.
In supposedly “deep red Texas” the support and enthusiasm for Kamala Harris and Colin Allred is palpable! No kool aid drinking here, just eyes wide open and l like what I’m seeing.
No, not drinking Kool Aid here. I am betting that M.A.G.A.s are over-represented in early voting, polls, and call-in shows that are non-partisan. They are more engaged and waging a defensively driven preemptive attack to create the impression of momentum. Of course, I may be way off; I often am. In any case, I remain optimistic because . . . I have to.
I predict we (Dems) will recapture the House by 4-5 seats a very thin margin again (which illustrates how closely divided this country is). I predict we will lose the Senate by 2 seats (52-48 GOP). And I believe the White House is a coin flip which slightly favors Trump. Sigh...
Already above my pay-grade on the White House. So, I am up-in-the-air on that one. My hope is that, if candidate Trump gets voted into jail, more reasonable -- perhaps courageous -- Republicans will come to the fore to start righting the heavily listing ship of state.
Put humanities back in school, at their center. Include essay writing to see, respect, and draw on others as individuals. And throw out the standardized testers.
Phil, J.L., and Barbara: agreed. By hard, I mean that it takes a lot of effort, like two generations *to right the constitutional culture listing under the weight of violence.
For me the "hard" part is dealing with the self-satisfied among our intellectuals. They've gone to school and learned never to use any humanities (abstractions, catch-words, slogans, cliché all easily substitute). But because they see movies, hear music, and read novels, they assume they are equipped -- they assume they can use, apply them. When in fact most never do. They let their humanities remain sequestered on, in their passive side. Most never even attempt to make connections via our humanities.
So they cannot even begin to imagine the massive damages done to schools where the ruling, abstracting categorical and linear logic of standardized testing totally crowds out, snuffs out, excludes the humane of possible humanities.
How do we begin with this much needed revolution in our education structures ? I so agree with your take on the dire social consequences of our present Gradgrind children’s bootcamps. We would need a new army of, presently seen as rogue, educators to create the new structures and teach the teachers. Perhaps you could help draw up a Grand Plan ? 🐈⬛
The U.S. has the Fulbright program, and the Peace Corps, Monnina.
Both could begin to train cadres of instructors to teach (at various levels) how to see "others" as individuals.
First in a local classroom, where all write intro essays, then discuss them, then re-write to acknowledge others in the room and good ideas and key, analogous experiences they have had.
Essays then go in exchange swap to neighboring group of same-level students (different nationality, different race, different religious sect). Everyone reads intro essays of the neighbors, and writes back celebrating how different individuals among them handles things.
Thanks. That would be an easily created good start. I was so impressed by the generational economic and cultural opportunities and education created in California by the G.I. Bill when I was studying it’s local history. Especially visible in its music and engineering.
The latter being so successful that it has attracted the likes of Elon Musk who has exploited it like a fox in a henhouse. 🐈⬛
Phil, while my sentiment aligns 111% with yours. I disagree on your contention about novels. I have found that most non-fiction conveys facts and data while good fiction often engenders wisdom within the reader. Of course, I missed your point: good fiction gets the suicide squeeze by the 'metrics mania' like other humanities.
Baron Montesquieu basically said that for democracies to avoid sliding into anarchy and then authoritarianism, the citizens must live and breathe the democratic spirit every day. That does NOT mean a republic of virtue -- hello, reign or terror like that of Pol Pot -- but a republic of everyday men and women seeking a common destiny and blundering along a wide path, forward and more or less together.
And very VERY difficult to achieve if the society is essentially split down the middle with both sides completely distrusting the other and no common ground for dialogue. Which is why I am so dejected that we are basically doomed. Even if Trump loses, we still face at least two years with a GOP led Senate (barring a highly unlikely change of course) and possibly 10 to 20 more years with a Supreme Court which will still have an agenda to help support Trump goals wherever possible.
Harris will have her work cut out for her and Walz will be of little help in that regard if the Senate is majority GOP. And by 2028 we very well may have a REAL revolt to an authoritarian GOP to throw Harris out.
And of course if Trump wins this election pray for the Flying Spaghetti Monster to save us. Because we obviously will have no way to save ourselves.
I hear you, Jon. I am older and physically fit. Live alone; never married. If there is to be fighting in the streets, I am ready. This summer I read a book written in 1964 and 1965 by Allen Drury -- or as my cousin said when plagued with 'Advise and Consent' for summer-bummer reading: Allen Dreary -- basically hypothesizing what a victory by Senator Goldwater would have looked like, at least in foreign policy.
The most valuable take-away for me from that hernial tome was the revelation that these chip-on-the-shoulder right-wingnuts have been around for a much longer time than I had realized. De-industrialization upped the game in the 1980s. Though flawed, crass, and boorish, candidate Trump is baptizing himself in that deep ground-water of rancour coming to the surface.
I read the entire Advise and consent series when I was in my 20s (back in the 70s).. What fascinated me was watching how Drury went from a slightly left of center Democratic supporter in the original book to an almost reactionary right winger ala Trump by the time he wrote Capable of Honor and the two final books (Come Nineveh Come Tyre and Promise of Joy).
He was very affected by the rise of power of the Soviet Union and deeply disliked and mistrusted communism. That can be seen if you read the entire Ad/Con series which is a total of six books as well as his later related books like Anna Hastings.
As a young and fanciful communist myself it was difficult to understand why he made the progression from ALMOST being a leftist to being almost pro Joe McCarthy. I am still not sure I totally understand it and if course he is gone now. But that series of books is definitely insightful into how people in the 50s/60s/early 70s were thinking then. A great series for any person who is seriously interested in the political evolution of the United States.
Well, my shot-in-the-dark guess would be that he understood what was really happening in the U.S.S.R. and found the continuing denial by fellow lefties to be unbearable.
I would also point out that my communist leanings were not necessarily pro- Soviet leanings but rather a belief in Marxism (Karl not Groucho!) as a basic economic philosophy. I still believe it is the best path for the average person who is not wealthy (ie most people in the world) but I also understand the limits of being able to implement it equitably and universally.
The sad part is that some people, like the Trump supporter who thought we needed dictatorship simply want to be relieved of the burden of thinking and to have someone else make decisions on their behalf. They have only themselves to blame when the inevitable disaster hits.
That comes from a high level of suffering across the Midwest, South, and plains states where many people likely feel they have been left behind and ignored. That is the danger of candidate Trump for me: he preaches a politics of vengeance . . . but, ¿against whom? We are seeing scape-goating in a real way in real time.
You're exactly right. That's been my biggest lesson of all through all of this Trump madness. Democracies must be protected and cherished...By everyone.
All of which begs the question what do we do if that fails us? When half the people in the country no longer even care enough to act sensibly? What then? Civil War? That worked (sort of) when the weaponry at the disposal of the people were almost the same as what was at the disposal of the armed forces. That of course is no longer true.
Secession? Highly unlikely. We have historical precedent that secession should never be permitted.
I apologize for making this so down spirited but I believe we are only a week or so away from having to actually start really looking at these issues and figuring out what to do.
Jon — someone has to say it. I keep thinking about how the Right has been organizing and working toward this moment for decades, while the Left has cherry-picked issues to be upset about and focus on. Will the results of this election finally help us get off our duffs and organize?
The big risk is "too little too late". I seriously fear that Trump will be successful in his authoritarian takeover and it may be generations before the "ship of state" can be unsunk.
Good luck with that. Nothing at all suggests this is true other than being a "true believer". I sure hope you are right but I am pretty sure you are wrong.
But if half plus one of the people want a radically different country, then what? Government by the people so requires the people and I believe we are going to face some bitter truths the day after election day.
This is so appropriate, Dear Professor. Somewhere I might stil have a copy of that War Department pamphlet. From many decades ago.
If any of you have not read Robert Reich's post of Oct. 25 in the afernoon about meeting Henry Wallace as a child, I will paste en excerpt he included from the Aug. 9, 1944 New York times written by Wallace:
"A fascist is one whose lust for money or power is combined with such an intensity of intolerance toward those of other races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions, or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit or violence to attain his ends.…
The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money or more power.…
It has been claimed at times that our modern age of technology facilitates dictatorship. What we must understand is that the industries, processes, and inventions created by modern science can be used either to subjugate or liberate. The choice is up to us.…
The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. Their newspapers and propaganda carefully cultivate every fissure of disunity, every crack in the common front against fascism. They use every opportunity to impugn democracy. They use isolationism as a slogan to conceal their own selfish imperialism.… They claim to be superpatriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interests.…
Still another danger is represented by those who, paying lip service to democracy and the common welfare, in their insatiable greed for money and the power which money gives, do not hesitate surreptitiously to evade the laws designed to safeguard the public from monopolistic extortion.…
Monopolists who fear competition and who distrust democracy because it stands for equal opportunity would like to secure their position against small and energetic enterprise. In an effort to eliminate the possibility of any rival growing up, some monopolists would sacrifice democracy itself….
Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection."
There were those who saw things clearly back then. The progressives of us spent too many years basking in the laurels of our victories of the 60s and early70s, while RUST NEVER SLEEPS, if you know what I mean. Time to commit to keeping our machine cleaned and well lubed.
I have some interesting ones due to my parents having kept such things (and having lived to 98 and a currently alive 100), but not this one. I do have a lovely 1938 War Production Board "Books are weapons in the war of ideas" one. The collection is pretty random!
Thanks, missed that one. Ride My Llama has got to be a good one. I love llamas. I’d like to spit on some critters too. They know how to express displeasure…
This series of pamphlets was written by my father. I haven’t looked at them in a long time. Thank you so much. He would be rolling in his grave to see what is happening now.
Wow, what a fortuitous connection. I’m sure Heather would appreciate hearing this, but she won’t find your comment here. You could email her, DM her on Facebook, or maybe message her on X Twitter.
I'm just dropping here that your copy is worth more than might first suggest. The link in the notes up above goes to the Internet Archive site, and is functional...today. But the Archive has been hacked and recently was offline for awhile, and could be again. So physical copies are increasingly critical records.
For those who have not gone to the Archive site, it allows for download of a pdf version so you can have a digital copy on your computer to read offline.
Note: I have no association with the Archive except I send them a few dollars to support their work when I can.
And calling him an ordinary little man was a sin that could not be tolerated (from LFAA 10-21-24). Calling chump a clown is something he will not forget.
Could not be more appropriate , we have two choices in the next ten days. This should be read and pronounced on all multi media until voting day. Thank you Heather
And shared by us widely. This information on the fascism our fathers, uncles, and grandfathers fought against is what softens the persuadable Independents and reasonable Republicans.
My father,(sadly now deceased) like so many others, fought in France and Germany in WWII. Often wakened by nightmares of what he experienced, he spoke little of what he saw. What he did discuss with all of us was THIS…exactly what Heather shared tonight. The dangers of fascism. He knew this awareness was important for his children. Many spirited political conversations were held around our dining room table, especially when extended family came to visit.
I miss his insight and wish he was here today to tell us all the truth of what he and his band of brothers fought against.
It harkens a movie from the 1940s, The Best Years of our Lives. The scene in the diner when a flag-pin-wearing man questions the brave WWII veterans about their sacrifices (was it worth it?). A fight ensues, with the veteran pulling the flag pin off of the lapel of the fascist-loving creep.
This is sad because it is NOT the media that has led us here. It is the people on the right who don't mind giving up on democracy coupled with the people on the left (us) who wore blinders and refused to look dispassionately at where we were heading and demand that our leaders do what was needed to avoid it early enough to make a difference. We can all applaud for Harris but I do not believe it was the BEST option we might have had if Biden hadn't been so fool hardy and appropriately stepped aside a year ago. That is of course water under the bridge but it doesn't change the reality.
Joe Scarborough frequently.entertained Trump for hours in 2015 on the phone. JOE even said "golly, there's something about him that reminds me of Jack Kennedy."
So, the.media gave.birth to this beast, and nurtured it like a little baby. So, you're wrong.
No you're wrong. Trump was famous long before Joe Scarborough even knew who he was. And even before The Apprentice. But none of that is the point. The media isn't "in charge". The media reflects what the people want and seek. If you haven't learned that then you are as ignorant as the masses. It is the people who get what they want and deserve.
Trouble is, I don't believe many Americans care about fascist leaders like Trump and his GOP cronies. They will willingly vote for a leader who would take away our democracy as he pretends to defend it against the "enemy within." They willingly embrace all his lies about our terrible economy, evil immigrants, and "taking our country back" I believe Trump will lose this election. but that won't change the fact that three are a lot of ignorant, stupid people in this country who don't give a damn about protecting our country from would-be tyrants like Trump. I hope they will lose badly this time.
Having talked to many friends and family who side with the MAGA crowd, I believe it comes down to that age-old conundrum: security or freedom.
There is enough fear in this country to capitalize off of; if you exploit the underlying fears of a population through disinformation, misinformation, propaganda, etc. then of course they will pick security over freedom, which they have been lead to believe is "under attack". They will even be willing to COMPROMISE their current freedom in order to protect a "larger" or "more important" freedom.
As the Jedi say, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to the Dark Side.
We are fighting fear - this fear is misplaced, undoubtedly, but it has also gone unaddressed long enough that it has festered and become anger, fermented into hate. And now we have to convince people who did not even KNOW they were afraid that they are compromising freedom and democracy for a false security.
After speaking with all my MAGA family and friends, all I can really say is that many of them would really benefit from some rigorous therapy. There's a lot of repressed emotion, trauma, and abuse that many of them of offloading without knowing it.
I demur, TJB, when you say "this fear . . . has also gone unaddressed long enough . . .."
Not quite. I can list for you a whole raft of novels, films, memoirs, and songs which very aptly addressed the fear residing in tens of millions of our working-class neighbors who got their jobs offshored, and who never understood what hit them.
These fears of theirs by very, very fine artists were very, very well addressed.
Greater problem, TJB, has been how the Powell memo far-right foundations -- before they did the decades'-long offshoring -- first killed humanities in schools. So Americans were learning never to see, never to imagine seeing, the great resources that were in fact there.
And with standardized testing having taken over, the conceits of abstracting all life (by categories, by the units and chronologies of linear logic) hammered final nails in the humanities coffin, the humane possibilities in us we lost.
As you say, an illusion of security. An illusion of innate supremacy. In actuality security and real freedom are inseparable. By solidarity and an empowering, lawful society we maximize freedom for a society, for real freedom is not uncountable predation, but universal rights, which means rights that must not be violated by others. freedom is both freedom to and freedom from, AKA security borne of solidarity and just rule of law. The "Four Freedoms" among others. The right to walk down the street and be relatively confident of making it home in safety.
" — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men (sic), deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,"
Interesting. Deploying your analysis of what a free lawful society entails any form of fascism could equally be called a Mobster’s Charter. Social justice being seen to be done from the highest to the lowest, the performance of the right rule of law in our daily lives, is the living foundation stone of democracy.
Organized crime is organized to intimidate and, of course to live like kings on the backs of others. I displays all the earmarks of a despotic government except for possessing "official" powers; and those it manipulates by bending the law and those who craft and enforce it. It is a parasite that feeds on government incompetence and corruptibility, a power, if not THE power behind the throne, reminiscent of our US oligarchy. Trump was reportedly cozy with organized crime from early on https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/donald-trump-2016-mob-organized-crime-213910/
It seems to me that power over people can be roughly divided into love, decency and persuasion, as well as money, status and violence. The latter is not always evil, money is a medium of exchange, official status in the form of entrusted responsibilities is necessary, and I think (as a last resort) even measured violence is is a fit response to a clear and present attack; but in a corrupted society the last three become extreme, interchangeable and hostile to our "better angels". Human on human predation is our constant and most devastating, even species-wide existential enemy.
Agreed. Marcel Mauss’ The Gift (on the social good of material exchange) and some work the name of which I have forgotten on Love and Law in the Middle Ages, wherein love was deemed the most important moral truth informing social justice, were important in forming my present views.
Our technological cleverness keeps exceeding our wisdom, and is itself a threat. We a running out of time to understand our own very complicated individual and social human nature. We animals are the only sentient beings in the universe, so far as we know, and owing to the speed-limit of light, may ever encounter. Our lives and logical/sensual awareness is a gift beyond measure, yet we still allow our primitive ego's to royally frick it up. Honesty about ourselves, and to ourselves, might still save us, while lies and delusion are killers.
Thousands of years ago a marker was installed at the Temple at Delphi:
Inscribed on a column in the pronaos (forecourt) of the temple were an enigmatic
TJB, you write what I see in my MAGAt cohort of retired cop friends. They are absolutely convinced that Christianity is under attack and is being shunted aside for “inclusion”. They think marriage is “under attack because gay people can marry. They believe that Mexican immigrants are stealing jobs from “honest white people.” They are convinced that transgender people are ruining children. They are fearful and angry; a bad combination.
The appalling statements by Stephen Miller, Steven Cheung,, Karoline Leavitt and the rest of the campaign toadies are horrifying & full of hate. They are truly frightening.
Thank you, Dr. Richardson. It occurs to me that Trump and his MAGA Republicans have ticked every box. They have passed the Fascist exam. My question is, WHO ARE WE? Collectively, we are creating the future to come for all those we love, who will exist after us. We are truly on the edge here, truth or lies, liberty and justice for all or corruption, peaceful coexistence or violence, civility and respect or mockery and hatred, accepted caste system and social hierarchy based on ethnicity and wealth or level field of opportunities based on skill and work ethic. Patriotism has become a word twisted into a tool that any speaker can use for intended purpose. Personally, I more often find it repugnant as used by the elected Republicans actively or passively moving us from democracy into fascism because their ideas on governance have proven unhelpful and therefore unpopular with the American people overall. In a fascist system they won’t need approval of citizen voters. They will only need to be obedient to succeed personally. So, all these words to say….this is not a normal election in which policies that will most benefit the country are on the debate table. We know who Donald Trump is. We know what the once respectable, responsible Republican Party has become as MAGA extremist have prevailed and truth speakers have been expelled. We are clear and concerned about what the Republican Party represents currently. They are liars, cowards, not protective of the American people and our children. This is the moment we show one another ‘who we are’. Are we decent? Are we honest? Are we good people? Do we believe in science, in those speaking to us from certified expertise or does any old con artist with an axe to grind have just as much influence? The world is watching. History is holding its breath, historians waiting to write the truth or lies that will be told to coming generations. WHO ARE WE? I suppose the results of this election will answer.
Thank you for this slice of history. I’m seeing in my mind’s eye a picture of a man who hugs the flag while, according to the man closest to him in the White House, is a fascist and the most flawed person that he’s ever met.
It was happening here before December 7, 1941. The brains of humans are susceptible to this trap based on millions of years of evolution. Only since 1776 did we become so self aware to think it can be overcome.
When I was in the Navy (1974-1979) our command sponsored those of us who had high-level security clearances to go to a day-long sort of conference/training on fascism, socialism, communism, the similarities and differences between those ideologies and democracy, and part of that training involved how certain bad actors from countries with those ideologies might approach us trying to get classified information. I have never forgotten that training; it had a huge impact on me then and today. The orange monster and his lesser sidekicks are the epitome of what I was to look out for. Sadly, I think fascism is alive and thriving in the Republican party.
Remarkable how this was history in the eyes of the military. The difference today is amplification of fascism by extreme wealth, conveyed to child and parent by electronic media...one day so small and convenient, the next so captivating, limiting, and finally enslaving.
Electronic media is indeed a vast global megaphone. It is exposing a very dark societal underbelly and an equally ugly ruling class to all of us. Drawing upon Baum’s classic satirical political allegory , The Wizard of Oz, with Rupert Murdoch & Corporate media as the weak but wicked wizards wielding the megaphone, I think we are seeing individuals being driven crazy by unchecked and widespread cruel mistreatment accordingly turning into screaming raging flying monkeys or going into retreat from everything 🙊🙉🙈
NBA coach Greg Popovich (former Air Force Intelligence ran spies in Cold War) explains WONDERFULLY why Trump is a disaster. I'm finding it easier to persuade people after they take a look at this. https://x.com/theoquintard/status/1850313411990581607?s=46
Hi 100Panthers - The audio volume is very low on this posting from TwitterX, and no close captioning. I wish it was better, then I could use it for an educational Election promo on Facebook.
re: ERASING HISTORY by JASON STANLEY
The comment I posted earlier about how our culture of designing newer history books that skew our younger generations education be more of a critical race theory. Is the United States becoming an exceptional grand nation whose exceptionality is due to its "patriotic education" of white Christian heterosexual men, who have "deeds of great men" define our nation from our previous Democracy which is based on Equality and Freedom?
I'm afraid the younger generations may be loyal to Trump and JD, and not realize why they are going to vote Red in November.
Just as Hitler was a harmless little man with a funny mustache, t is a grotesque orange creature who rants, slurs and babbles. As Hitler preyed on resentments and historical anti “other”ism, so t and his maggotry have secured the devotion of nearly half the American population. And as always, we are at the mercy of an archaic Constitutional electoral system and some 1/3 of our people who just can’t be bothered to vote. To be honest, I am terrified.
But I don't believe the polls. It's part of the propaganda. What is certain that the election is going to show what the true will of the people is, in reality. Know where your friends are. Be prepared.
I hope you are right but am pretty sure you are misguided here. You can't stick your head in the sand and say "I know it will be different". The evidence is pretty stark. The polls aren't propaganda. They are a pretty reliable source of advance data. Data isn't biased. Unless it is intentional lies (which it almost certainly isn't) it is simply an attempt to quantify reality. You don't have to like that reality but denying it is almost always folly.
I wish you luck with that. I think you are going to need it, sigh.
Had a chat with a Millennial today. Decent guy, recent immigrant, grandmother still not a citizen but living here legally. Totally clueless about Trump, Harris, issues even on immigration! He is from one the countries Trump wants to send back to Latin America! He said lots of his friends are thinking of not voting also, are equally ignorant. GOOD! STAY HOME! After all the lies, cheating, 400,000 excess Covid deaths because it was a hoax, plans for a military tribunals for enemies who deny The Big Lie...if you either A-have no idea these facts exist or B-you know these facts but are still undecided THEN STAY HOME, don't vote! I'd rather have a non-voter than a random selection based on 'vibes' by the ignorant!
"When anybody preaches disunity, tries to pit one of us against the other through class warfare, race hatred, or religious intolerance, you know that person seeks to rob us of our freedom and destroy our very lives."
Expanded quote from one of the songs I've been listening to on repeat, "Currents" by Bastille. It is poignant, I feel, especially right now.
Did anyone else see Trump at the podium in Traverse City? He was not wearing his familiar blue suit and red tie. Instead, his suit was black; his tie gold. His cap also black with his familiar slogan lettered in gold. A new and powerful visual has been created.
I wondered if you meant yellow gold or orange or... but no - you mean gold as in gold metal. I wonder what the significance is? He may be trying to evoke a religious figure such as a priest and a halo reference. I suppose his cult would see it that way. I just wonder if maybe he fouled his blue suit on the way there. He was three hours late, after all.
Gold coloring is normally used to denote affluence, wealth, and material success.
Black is generally used for solemnity, authority, and formality/sophistication.
I can only assume that he is trying to push his image as a successful, big-time businessman who is rich, confident, and carries a certain gravitas.
Despite his many business failures, the revelation of his many bankruptcies, and the abject dissonance of his "media" and "real" persona, many people I've spoken with still seem to believe Trump to have those qualities.
He is probably attempting to double down and cement those qualities by wearing certain colors the same way someone may choose to wear blue rather than red to an interview - colors have subliminal meanings.
Take it from a former librarian, this kind of thing is heck on the folks in technical services, when all the Dystopian Fiction has to be reclassified as Current Events.
Thank you, Professor Richardson, for today's brief history of fascism and for explaining why we should all be aware of this threat. I have a feeling that the following tactic is another example of what is in the fascist's toolbox. What do you think? Having gone to the trouble earlier this year of reaffirming my American voter registration as an overseas resident of Japan, voting, and mailing in my ballot a month in advance -- all of which takes time and effort -- I was alarmed to see this Axios article in my feed this morning. First, the timing of this challenge, which could disenfranchise me (and prevent me from voting in this year's election in the U.S.) and approximately 3 million of my fellow Americans living abroad, could not be worse. It is clearly a tactic to create confusion among overseas voters and is yet another transparent tactic to intimidate potential voters, restrict voting rights, and suppress voter turnout. Second, it is a slap in the face to all Americans who happen to live overseas -- both people in the military and others like me who are just regular citizens. All Americans should condemn this action by the cowardly Republicans who have filed lawsuits challenging the validity of ballots cast overseas.
Why on earth didn't this pamphlet become part of the school curriculum in every school in America from the fall of 1945 and continuing through today. The military in WW2 were not the only ones who should have been informed. Everybody needs to know. My father informed me (not at the length and depth of this pamphlet) of what fascism was when I was 6 years old, and I read the newspapers too.
Had Americans been uniformly informed we wouldn't be teetering on the brink of losing our democracy in 11 short days. I sent this to my relatives and posted on Facebook. Thank you for giving this to us Dr. Richardson
It would be great if we could get all Americans to read this letter. So many dark forces are conspiring to destroy our country, it is frightening to think about. I hope a majority of Americans will vote for Harris. But I am not sure I have enough faith left in my fellow Americans to see the truth and not believe the lies. A good friend of mine hates Trump but told me today she voted for him because she is against abortion. We live in TN, a state with one of the strictest abortion bans with no exceptions. I told her there had to be exceptions to protect the life of the mother. She said nothing which indicated to me that she is not pro life only pro birth. But even if Harris wins, TN will never change unless we get rid of our republican super majority. I can hope women in TN rise up and vote some democrats into the state house.
Heather... THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS! Reading this publication makes me wish I was living during the time of WWII... because our government and the vast majority of the America people were really "clear eyed" about the world in which they lived... both abroad and here at home. I will share the information you have given us tonight widely... inviting all who say they love "the greatest generation" to read it.
I also wish to offer you and your readers this additional, fascinating bit of WWII history... the 18 minute film made by the US Government (with Hollywood's help) to encourage young men to enlist in the Army Air Corps (the precursor to the Air Force).
At the beginning of the war, America needed thousands of pilots, radio operators, and other skills soldiers willing to "boldly go where not enough Americans had gone before"... into the air (and supporting those going there)! It is my dream that Kamala Harris, once elected, asks Hollywood to help her communicate just how much we Americans can do once we stop fighting with each other and come together as one nation seeking "liberty and justice for all".
Here from WWII is "Winning Your Wings," featuring real Army Air Corps pilot Jimmy Stewart!
I’m so happy you watched “Winning Your Wings”! I am a huge Jimmy Stewart fan too… even went to his home town of Indiana, PA to visit the Jimmy Stewart Museum!
Thank for mentioning this. I’m not forgetting the internment camps. In fact, I’ve met George Takei and have his books plus the DVD of “Allegiance”. But the point of my post was to suggest that Hollywood can help Kamala Harris achieve her goal of bringing America together. Thanks again for raising this point. We were an imperfect nation during WWII in many ways. Perhaps the next time I talk about that era I’ll include what we did that still was bad.
I have George Takei’s childrens book “My Lost Freedom”. And he is one of my heroes! One of my favorite films is The Best Years of Our Lives. I watch it every time it is on TCM.
To the fine reporters and writers at the “WAPO” I send you these three Haikus to reflect upon in these troubled times, when you must raise your voices against the Oligarch or the Darkness will envelope you too. Time to speak out:
You cannot have a fascist state without the military. The American military does not owe its allegiance to the President, it owes its allegiance to the Constitution. One thing is very clear tRump does not have nor will he ever have the military on his side.
The reality is there are more Kellys than Flynns. I do not know if you have noticed or heard the numerous statements by tRump denigrating soldiers and calling them suckers and losers. Do you actually believe or even think they would support him. He denigrates them because he knows they won't.
The picture couldn’t be any clearer yet some are laughing off the big clown with the orange toupee. The entire world is watching in disbelief that the choice for America has come to this, democracy or fascism. The Republican party should never be forgiven for this.
The eighty-million people in America who like or love and who will vote for trump need to read that pamphlet.
Normal life, so ordinary that it is invisible, can be profoundly changed starting on Day One, less than two weeks from now.
In the face of the coming fascist precipice and possible vanishing of their country, they celebrate at rallies for the strongman, just as they did on the Nazi Party Rally Grounds in 1933 Nuremberg.
That pamphlet belongs on millions of kitchen tables, on tv ads, on radio, billboards, even in newspaper editorials...those with the courage to stand for country.
Thank you Dr. Richardson for your invaluable, wonderfully-researched history lessons for all.
Brilliant! Using the US Army’s own description of what is transpiring in our nation this very day. The pamphlet might have also mentioned that a fascist government will use the army, intended for defense against foreign enemies, against its own citizens to intimidate the populace and institutions, (hello Washington Post!) to further force the will of the few over the many.
Seig hiel, baby!
Would that we could print copies of today’s Letter and scatter them from the ceiling in all the MAGA “rallies” from now until Election Day.
“It is reasonable to be frustrated. But to anyone out there thinking about sitting out this election or voting for Donald Trump...let me warn you, your rage does not exist in a vacuum. Your wife, your daughter, your mother, we as women will become collateral damage to your rage.”
Super wise of Heather to dig up this document from WWII identifying fascism.
It "thrives on indifference and ignorance,” Heather notes opening her concluding para.
Yes. The Powell memo in 1971 started this as it ginned up its first far-right foundations -- with the first several years' efforts to remove humanities from U.S. education. Once humanities could be rid, the proto-fascists then could be sure U.S. schools would be teaching all to be humanly indifferent.
Next step, ignorance. This came assured with the imposition of standardized testing as the single-largest ghoul leaching all U.S. schools. As the 1970s passed into the 1980s, the logical conceits of standardized testing were two: the categorical and the linear. Both promoted life as abstracted only. And lifeless. Human beings became seen as extinct as nuanced individuals. Natural life became just a series (or more) of units all in chronological, repetitive, causal order. Everyone could be satisfactorily ignorant of life's complications, surprises, serendipities, contradictions, and features that rhymed, ran parallel, and dipped and rose into and out of view, as real human memories were wont to do.
America is beset with fascism. The Powell memo and its far-right apparatuses guaranteed it. Guaranteed that the filthy rich few could school all away from humanities, away from democracy, indifferent to what we'd lost, ignorant of the great traditions and human, humane dynamism we'd had.
And if students still had a civics class in their junior or senior high school curriculum, they might know this, which is why our home grown fascists want to eliminate the Dept of Education and are beating down public schooling.
This is so close, too close. We can use the tool given to us and vote to save our democracy. Then, the really hard work begins. How did we get here? There are a lot of things we’ve done right and wrong. Sorting through it and crafting a better future will be worth the effort.
So perfect for right now and so terrifying. How long has this been going on? Did Trump’s election in 2016 just set the stage, or was that planned? It’s hard for me to imagine that anyone could have predicted his behavior so well ahead of time. Could he himself have been manipulated? Interesting questions and scary thoughts on top of the usual ones right now.
This modern version all started with Reagan and was strengthened by Newt Gingrich’s divisive reign as the House Speaker. The “Tea Party” formalized the system and Orange guy was just in the right place at the right time to pick up the baton.
Even I knew at 17 (I was not old enough to vote) that Reagan was going to destroy the middle class, and he did. I didn’t know then what I now know, but it was evident to me then even though it was hard for me to express how I knew this. I disliked Reagan, although I didn’t have the disgust for him that I later had for George W. Bush, and my even deeper loathing for Trump.
Back in the early 1990s I read a book by the now deceased Village Voice writers Jack Newfield and Wayne Barrett that detailed Donald Trump’s real estate scams and showed how Trump was financing his rich lifestyle at the expense of his creditors, even though Fred Trump Sr. was financing his son’s real estate ventures at the time. I think at that time Donald hadn’t burned through Daddy’s cash. Fred probably also had no idea that his prized son Donald was a know it all incompetent who prized himself on his “gut,” which continually led him undertake failed financial ventures. Donald Trump was the only person incompetent enough to lose money running a casino in Atlantic City. This was before his six or so business bankruptcies, which caused his American lenders to receive significant losses on his loans and caused Wall Street to cease lending money to Trump. So yes, some of us out in the sticks knew Donald was a poseur and scammer.
I took an instant dislike to Trump from the minute he stepped into the presidential race. I never liked the man, but I really grew to detest him as I saw him progress through the 2016 election. The Democrats made a poor choice in deciding to run Hillary Clinton. She was actually competent and intelligent, but the Republicans succeeded in their character assassination of Ms. Clinton to the point of making her look like she was Lady Macbeth in a pantsuit and a suitable target for their misogyny. She didn’t help matters by encouraging people to hope Trump was the candidate, as she lacked the ability to see how it would backfire badly on her. The broadcast media outlets didn’t help by giving Trump tons of free publicity in coverage, ignoring the public interest in the service of ratings.
I’m genuinely concerned that Trump may snatch the election and use illegal methods to place himself into office as president, despite his decreasing cognitive abilities and blunt statements that he wants to be a dictator and that “we won’t have to worry about voting again.”
Manipulator out-manipulated by Putin’s Kremlin operatives, and then vaulted onto the American political stage by moneyed Greenwich Republicans with the help of malignant opportunists like Steve Bannon.
Puppet. It's the only explanation for his arrival in the White House. It was a TV setting to him. Remember the huge signatures, turned around to the cameras, the applauding sycophants?
Those in his shadows realized in 2015 how dumb he is and how easily he could be manipulated into thrusting their message down the throats of the ensuing cult. He’s a puppet.
Unfortunately for them, his stupidity is unraveling their messages, thus the cancellation of all but the friendliest interviews such as Joe Rogan the sycophant.
Rachel Maddow's book "Prequel" describes how German and American Nazis expended millions to destabilize American society in the 1930s and push pro-German public opinion. American fascists were real and dangerous. It was so bad that certain members of Congress took money in exchange for inserting pro-fascist speeches in the Congressional Record and giving American fascists franking (i.e. free mailing) privileges for distributing their messages to the public. HCR has it right.
Here are two interview's about a book called 'Erasing History' by author JASON STANLEY.
It describes how important textbooks play an enormous role in authoritarianism, why certain history books are being banned in schools and colleges, this great replacement theory is the core of the message of MAGA Republicanism, in this election and previously. It links to the education framework, because in education, what you do is you eliminate the history of nonwhite Christian cis men, and you instead elevate the stories of great white Christian men, who are supposedly what — the people who make our country great. And that way, you can represent nonwhite immigration as an existential threat to the nation. You'll recognize so much of the Republican's playbook they've been keeping a secret from our voters.
Democracy Now! Interview Part 2- AMY GOODMAN with author JASON STANLEY, 'ERASING HISTORY'
..................................
The human race finds itself again under threat of a rising global fascist movement. In the United States, democracy is under attack by an authoritarian movement that has found fertile ground among the country’s conservative politicians and voters, but similar movements have found homes in the hearts and minds of people all across the globe. To understand the shape, form, and stakes of this assault, we must go back to extract lessons from our past.
It is so darn scary. Too many people are far too uneducated, uncaring, and/or inactive in terms of the blatant fascism we are facing. Many of us have tried to do our part to inform our friends & neighbors who are willing to listen (at least for a while), but I know I haven't done enough. One more week to go! Let's do it!
(PS - I am extremely appreciative of HCR's constant education & focus that helps us all be better informed/armed to educate people about the importance of supporting democracy.)
The perfect explanation for how we got here and what we need to do, especially on November 5th, but also going forward. Because the fascists aren’t going to go away willingly, as we’ve already seen.
Frankly, I think that allowing the Trump rallies to proceed as they have (press either absent or minimized; strict crowd control, including not allowing anti-Trump attendees, the support of secret service etc. etc.) is a lot like the early years of the Nazi campaign in the 1930s. As shown in the movie "Cabaret," the brown shirts acted much as Trump supporters, suggesting and acting violently to outsiders. Note also that Kamala Harris rallies are not the same - Trump supporters showed up there, and she responded to them, you should be at the rally down the street, the smaller one... This has perhaps given Trump rally attendees the impression that what goes on there is supported by the masses, while it is not.
Oh brother. I'd like that 1940's Army pamphlet on fascism , in its original colors, title, and text, to show up unannounced in the in boxes of every member of the GOP whether a judge, an elections official, a sheriff, a Representative, or a Senator. And send it in to the officers of Fox News,
Wow! I never knew about Army Talks”. Its definition and warning against fascism is very clearly drawn. I especially like the weight of the remedy being working hard to make justice-for-all an imperative. That seems to be the most glaring frustration of our current moment. Watching Elon Musk -the richest man in the world- buy votes for trump knowing he (Musk) is untouchable because of deep pockets and $1.8billion-ish in (ex. Starlink satellite) military contracts is painful. Watching trump continually flout justice is eroding to public trust. We are at this ominous crossroads with fascism (again!) because we lost a public understanding and definition of what fascism is, and how injustice seeps and creeps into the cracks of democracy’s foundation and weakens it. What I am looking for in this election is not just “to win”. I am looking for a stronger, more determined Will to make our democracy work For-The-People. I’m looking for backbone. I’m looking for substance. I’m looking for results. THIS election is about US. Are we willing to stop hating as a reflexive frustration, and demand better of ourselves and those we elect ? Are we willing to continue to perennially work towards a “more perfect Union” because that’s what “normal” is for democracy? The greatest, most surprising truth I have learned this century is that Democracy does not thrive on auto-pilot nor convenience. It’s not easy. And without care and attention, it erodes.
Ahistoricity bears a terrible cost. It is hard to believe that boomers are now the memory of our country, and we were born after the last world war. If ever historical education was important, it is now.
I grew up in a steel town in western PA. Steel is gone dor many years and nothing has replaced it. We need to bring new industries back to these areas and give the people who are left there the dignity of being able to make a decent living. Also reasons for new people to settle there and help bring back the stability and happy life that was once there. Trump, though completely a false prophet, has recognized them and given them a reason to hope that someone of consequence sees them.
When NAFTA was enacted, the government, which was lead by democrats, should have planned something to take the place of the industries who would be affected. It didn’t and that is why the blue collar people no longer identify as Dems.
I do. I think Joe Biden has been a great President doing everything he can to support the middle class. But he can’t be everywhere and the damage was done earlier. Once there was a very vibrant Main St. with department stores, shoe stores, 3 furniture stores. Enough commerce for all. Now it is a shell. The only thing that saves it is that it is a county seat.The town I grew up in was Butler, PA where Trump held his rally. There is a reason he was there. The area is still wounded from Pullman Standard closing in the ‘60’s and Armco Steel then closing 10 years later. Nothing has replaced it. It is similar to coal country in WVA. I am sure there is no shortage of housing in either places. Now we need to do something to get some industry back there.
Wasn’t that a focus of Joe’s plan for the middle class, and Kamala’s. Chump will put on a hard hat, and pretend. Reality Show, versus reality. Granted time has hurt as greedy bastards took advantage and grabbed the cheap labor as it decimated American plants. There is plenty of blame to go around, and not all of it hangs around Dem necks. Your point is critical for Dems to hear
NAFTA as you noted was a betrayal from which the Democrats have never recovered. That Bill Clinton is granted even a modicum of respect is unfathomable.
Vice President Harris is clearly superior to Trump and should, for the sake of our nation's future, be elected President.
I was around then and felt that globalization was coming. Isolation was and is not possible in such a changing world. Our CEO’s and the rich bastards who have ruled from perches on high have deliberately skewered the middle class. They could have acted responsibly but cheap labor was a siren’s call from hell. That bloated bottom line defined their integrity. As I said before, plenty of blame to go around.
What you describe Professor Richardson is the epitome of Trump and the MAGA movement. What I can’t wrap my head around is that many, if not most of these Trumpists had parents, grandparents or great grandparents who fought against this ideology to save the world from it. They do a disservice to those relatives by supporting Trump and his fascist followers. It’s too bad they are not schooled in what fascism is. That saddens me. To them it is a meaningless word and does not evoked the terror that it brings.
So it's said. But good grief, the definition of Fascism outlined in that 1945 pamphlet certainly and chillingly approximates what we are witnessing now. May democracy prevail, may it truly awaken, or better, re-awaken!
‘Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.’ – Thomas Jefferson
Say around 48% of those who vote where around 30% don't vote at all: It means that somewhere around 35% of voters actually will decide who we get and it could be an even smaller proportion given the vagaries of the Electoral College.
I was born in 1951. Much our assigned fiction reading in school (1957 to 1969) alerted us to signs of totalitarianism. From “The Silver Sword” and “The Diary of Anne Frank” to “Lord of the Flies” to “Animal Farm” to “Darkness at Noon” and “1984” to Eric Hoffer and the film, Mondo Cane, and even a Twilight Zone episode about Hitler starring Dennis Hopper, the warnings were consistent. Do school children still read those books? Or has social media candy replaced them?
This is worth watching - so eerily similar. “In 1939, 20,000 Americans held a pro-Nazi rally in New York’s Madison Square Garden — an event largely forgotten from American history.
A NIGHT AT THE GARDEN, made entirely from archival fragments filmed that night, transports audiences into this disturbing gathering and shines a light on the enduring power of demagoguery and antisemitism.”
I live in Brooklyn Heights. The day before the election I have a doctor appointment in lower Manhattan. For the first time since just after 9/11, I feel hesitation about using the subway -- being apprehensive of a domestic-terrorist attack. Never in my wildest dreams did I think our country would be where it is today and that I would harbor such a fear.
More and more, I think we need to establish in all schools--private and public both--a standardized civics class starting in elementary and repeated through high school, so kids learn about their system of government and how to recognize anti-democratic institutions (fascism among them), and a sex education / bodily autonomy class.
These are necessary to help our young citizens understand their rights and their history.
I particularly love this bit in the pamphlet: “Fascism treats women as mere breeders. ‘Children, kitchen, and the church,’ was the Nazi slogan for women,”.
In German, the original saying was Küche (kitchen,) Kirche (church,) und Kinder (children.) Hitler endorsed the whole idea of German women bearing women for his Third Reich and German women who had given birth to large German families received special privileges and benefits. Mussolini provided similar awards to Italian women who bore large families. At the same time, though, Hitler and Mussolini were determined to round up and kill Jews, Roma, political opponents and other people they thought were undesirable.
I can’t help thinking that both Hitler and Mussolini were both encouraging women to bear sons that would serve as cannon fodder in their future planned wars. The other thing is that the people in this country who want to strip women’s ability to control their own fertility are engaged in a desire for white Americans to continue their political and social dominance of the country. They are seriously afraid they’re going to be outnumbered by people they don’t see as white and that they will be treated as badly as they felt themselves privileged to treat non white Americans, whom they never saw as their equals. Abortion and birth control started to become forbidden in the mid 19th century when the white Anglo-Saxon Protestants started seeing increased Irish Catholic and German immigrants coming to the United States. They started outlawing abortion and primitive methods of birth control to keep WASP women bearing children in order to maintain their political and social dominance.
And don't forget America as you go the polls the brave men and women who like my father were prepared to give their lives (and many thousands did) to defeat Hitlers fascism are disparaged by one of the current candidates to be President
This was a great newsletter on fascism. Thank you, Heather. I hope people reading this can reach out to family and friends who are still undecided and tell them where we heading if Trump wins. We can't let fascism rule over Democracy and our freedom. We have come to damn far to go back.
This needs to be submitted as a "Letter to the Editor" of every newspaper in the US! And post it to any social media sites you use (I use none). WAKE UP PEOPLE! Lest history repeat itself...
Professor, you are the only one who could bring out in public the critical 1943 War Department document about the fascism. Thank you so much. I hope NYT will catch this letter and will also publish it.
Along with the dearth of good journalism in our nation, probably elsewhere too, the lack of understanding exactly what terms such as fascism or socialism really evolve. As usual, HCR, your Letters does the job. Again one hopes it is read/shared/discussed by many others. Our democracy must have an educated citizenry. How educated are we? Ask me again after November 5.
There is symbolism, there is cymbalism, and there is simply the clashing of noise producing instruments.
Yet, the symbolism of the Dodgers leading the Hated Highlanders (i.e., the New York Yankees) 2 games to nill is too much to ignore. The Yankees, the long time team of the American establishment and a team who has long counted among its fan favorites Despicable Donald Trump, are halfway out.
This is the type of good news we must carry forward.
OK, beyond sports analogies, is it not fitting that Heather began her epistle of tonight by speaking of "The War Department". Of all the many Orwellian turns of phrases that have plagued our commonwealth, the ghastly re-naming of the War Department in 1947 to the "Defense" Department is one of the worst. 1947 was a terrible year for democracy in America, both of the pre and post Toquevillian kind. The National Security Act, one of the worst pieces of legislation ever to gain Congressional approval went through. This legislation created the CIA, the NSA, and re-named the War Department, the "Defense" Dept.
The only "defense" ever necessary was of course, the 9/11 attack perpetuated by the close friends and allies of the Presidential Administration in power at the time.
The massive, MASSIVE amount of public monies spent since 1947 in foreign wars, very few of which were justified, and the equally massive amount of damage done to way too many innocent peoples is horrific. That of course includes the "allies" of ours we supported during the Cold War, the War on Terror, etc. The billions of dollars we have given to the State of Israel as it has ratcheted up its genocidal actions in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Lebanon recently, is a war crime in and of itself.
Oh yes, Heather's recitation of the historical warnings of fascism are spot on!
A catfight between the two most bloated team budgets in the majors...and one representing a town whose dominant newspaper-ish throwaway item just refused to endorse any candidate for president...nothing to see there.
All well and good. But probably no one who is voting for Trump is going to read it and if they do they will dismiss it either as “fake news” or just dismiss it as irrelevant. Which is not to say that I think the article is unimportant or without use. It’s a great article which nails the parallels with Trump and this campaign. But what is the way to fight this? Print up millions of copies and leave them in bars and churches and grocery store and gas stations and restaurants etc.? With no commentary or
attribution just letting it speak for itself? I don’t know and even though these articles are outstanding are they not still just preaching to the choir? I have no solution.
This is a rock solid piece and should be disseminated far and wide! I will be leaving a highlighted copy on the tables of my local coffeeshop, on the tables of the diner where I eat lunch, and the tables of the meat market I patronize. My town is redder than red, but most know I am the culprit spreading liberal BS. They tend to be curious and read some or all of what I leave. The way I see it, they are reading it and if they read enough something might ring a bell :)
I was born at the end of 1945, nine months after my father was discharged and came home from England. I wish we had read that pamphlet every year I was in school and been taught how to see, name, and combat the fascism in our midst, but instead, we were taught the very things it abjures--racism, elitism, nationalism, and pride in the greatness of our empire. And now, here we are.
Dick Cheney, the driving force behind the Iraq War that killed more than one million human beings, endorsed Kamala Harris. Why? Because she is beholden to the war machine that thrives on conflict and chaos, no matter the cost to American lives or global stability.
Recent events paint a clear and alarming picture. Israel is expected to hit military targets inside Iran; China’s President Xi is ordering his troops to prepare for war; North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong-un, has blown up vital roads and railways, isolating his nation for whatever comes next; and there are reports NATO is considering arming Ukraine with nuclear weapons, bringing the threat of global conflict to our doorstep.
The world is on the brink, and Kamala is ready to drag us right into it.
Under Kamala’s leadership, the same failed policies of intervention and military expansion will continue. She stands with the defense contractors and corporate elites who profit from conflict while American families pay the price.
But there is a path to peace—and it starts with electing President Trump and sending Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to DC.
Together, they are the only ones willing to stand up to these entrenched interests and stop the Military-Industrial Complex from dragging us into devastating wars. RFK Jr. will bring a new voice to the administration, working alongside President Trump to dismantle the war machine that Kamala is ready to empower.
With war looming and only days left, we need your help to stop Kamala and her military-industrial backers. The clock is ticking.
President Trump is the only candidate willing to stand up to these powerful forces and fight for peace. He will not bow to the war machine, and with RFK Jr. at his side, he will ensure that our country is not pulled into a catastrophic conflict.
Time is running out. The future of peace is in our hands.
A huge number of us life-long Democrats approve this message from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The claim that Kamala Harris is a warmonger simply because of Dick Cheney’s endorsement is an oversimplified and misleading argument. Harris’s record does not reflect Cheney’s interventionist legacy; in fact, she has demonstrated support for diplomacy and cooperation with allies to ensure stability. Painting her as a pawn of the “war machine” is a fear-based tactic, meant to distract from her actual policies and stances.
Contrary to this exaggerated portrayal, Harris’s approach emphasizes measured and multilateral responses, not the recklessness implied. The endorsement from Cheney doesn’t change Harris’s commitment to strategies that prioritize peace and global stability. Voters deserve to know the difference between rhetoric and reality.
This post mirrors statements made this morning by JD Vance on State of the Union on CNN. Vance vehemently used almost the exact same words written here to dismiss the fact that so many former staffers of Trump and the Cheneys are warning against electing Trump because he is a dangerous fascist. This war machine/peace candidate stuff must be today's MAGA talking points.
Earth to David and JD Vance: as of today, with the Biden administration in charge for more than 3 years - the U.S. is not at war in spite of invasions, attacks, and pandemics, that have occurred around the globe during this same period. The US is supporting allies who have been invaded or attacked and our diplomats are encouraging negotiations for peace for those wars. Sorry to burst your hope in Trump being the peace-nik candidate . Trump's "peace"policy - if one can call it that - is to let Putin and Netanyahu and Orban and other dictators do whatever they want in other countries. He is so ignorant that he believes by buddying up to these thugs, they will not come after the big prize of America. But, of course they will. That is why Putin is working so hard to get Trump elected. He knows an easy mark when he sees one.
David, if you are truly concerned about global wars, the best way we can stay out of active war is to work with allies to protect them and ourselves. The United States of America (without Trump in the WH) has the strength and the will to stand up to bullies who shoot or invade first and assume the rest of the world will just let them. That is the peace plan that the Biden administration has followed successfully. And if more countries stopped "electing" fascists like Trump, it would be easier to sustain democracy around the world.
Agree, both Joe and Kamala are weak. The entire world knows it and are taking full advantage of this opportunity. I’d like all the warmongers on this page to pledge their children and grandchildren to the front lines of these never ending wars. Or better yet come down from their ivory towers and go themselves. They scream eat the rich, but go right along with the military industrial complex who make billions on death and destruction. Democrats used to be the party for the working class. A party who was for free speech, peace and coexistence. I guess Heather can write about how the parties have switched once again. Democrats of today want to silence voices they don’t agree with, imprison those who don’t stay in lock step with the party ideals, and blow up half the world to control others people lives, install puppet governments and rob these countries of their natural resources. I am embarrassed for what this party has become.
Both sides smear the other candidate. The trolls on the Republican side say that Kamala Harris is a vacuous, unintelligent, drug-addicted puppet. Am I to believe that? Does that make you a vacuous, unintelligent, drug-addicted puppet too?
The following is my response to someone who sent an email playing the same word games you are playing:
Repeating the words he has called the Democratic candidate? Playing the both sides do it game?
If people want to support the candidate United States Generals are calling a Fascist that is their vote in a Democracy.
If people want to vote for a person convicted of sexual assault, and a felon out on bail who holds the kind of rally seen in New York over the weekend that is on their conscience as an American and as a voter.
If people want to align themselves with the words he speaks, the actions against this Country he has taken and the actions he proposes to take that is their choice in a Democracy.
It is way past time for mind games, pretzel logic and alternate realities in order to justify voting for a person like trump. It is way past time for pseudo intellectual examinations.
There actually is a fascist running for the Office of the President of the United States of America. He speaks the language of a fascist. He proposes fascist policies. Pretending it is not there does not make it go away. Playing like just maybe it is perhaps, if only, how about the other Candidate is not going to work.
Trying to rationalize that the person you are planning on voting for is not really the person you are voting for has got to be a mighty uncomfortable place.
What I insist on these 8 days before the election is that people at least be honest about exactly who they are indeed going to cast their ballot for on November 5.
Good answer. While I think you have the wrong definition of 'Fascist', which is actually an economic term, and I don't think it's wise to compare anybody to Hitler - even Trump, Trump is not a good representative of my values. But he has with him somebody who represents my values completely, and the Dems have invalidated themselves by willingly eroding free-speech, which is the bedrock of our democracy. Trump talks openly in a way he knows will rile up his base but never took the country to war. The Dems are the party of war and support for Big Business, and they try to hide it. We will survive Trump, and we will thrive with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Trump's administration, but we may not survive Kamala Harris and the dems' war mongering and dismissal of the constitution. Too bad it's down to this choice, but that's what I choose. I'm voting to get Robert F. Kennedy into a position where he can do his work.
Fascism has arrived, along with aspiring oligarchs. What went wrong in our country? Grievances unresolved since the Civil War? Citizens who don’t know and don’t care? Not enough civics education? Some of these people will be very surprised when Trump comes for them, too. And, if elected, he will.
One thing these War Talks 'got' was the need to define things happpening in terms understandable to everyman (woman). They did not assume people knew what 'fascism' was...explained what happens under it. They did not just label something without explaining the label in easily understandable language. Yes, itvwas propaganda, but isn't that what political campaigns are? 'm convinced people don't have a clue what fascism means...it's just a word.
It is my belief that one of the things that needs to be considered is to limit the exposure of Fox News on our military bases around the world. It is the primary source of news on televisions throughout all of our bases. Perhaps NPR would be a better choice.
Censorship is anti-democratic, period. Under our constitution, you can't eliminate somebody's voice from the conversation. As long as you think like this, we will be subject to the possibility of dictatorship in our beloved country and losing every one of our hard-won freedoms. If you have to eliminate the opposition to win the argument, maybe your viewpoint is not as rock solid as you thought it was.
As the War Department enumerated, all the boxes have now been checked (and I'm not talking about ballots). The choice is clear. We have a little over a week till we learn the fate of the American experiment. If there is a higher power watching over us may they protect and preserve us all.
So the War Department in WWII knew to tell the soldiers about the reasons they were fighting fascism. Excellent. Could we drop this across America from the Department of Defense?
It saddens me greatly to think that The Greatest Generation fought, died, and sacrificed so much to rid the world of this plague, only for a very few live to see it rear its ugly head again, this time on our own soil. The very thing they were warned about. History is repeating itself folks. The generation of Americans who defended us against this threat so long ago are unable to do so again. It is time for our generation to defend them and every other American, regardless of belief, views, opinions, origins, race, creed, and color. We must vote. We must make sure that there are no monsters left to threaten our country’s very foundations and way of life as Americans. I have never, in my 50+ years of life, been afraid of the outcome of an election. I am now. We are not voting for a specific person(s) in the normal sense. We are voting to either save and secure our way of life, or on the flip side, we will vote to end what so many have given their lives to defend and protect. Don’t let their sacrifices be in vain. Don’t sacrifice the future of your children, your families. Make no mistake….going down the path of hatred and revenge will not be easily reversed.
Facebook has been deleting certain Substack posts for several weeks now. I've had two of Joyce Vance's Civil Discourse columns pulled as "spam." At first you could put the link in a comment, as opposed to the main post, but they've got on to that now: their bots are "reading" the comments too.
Another great intervention Professor! When I read the 3 tactics of fascists it immediately struck me that one could substitute Zionism & Israel for fascism & America and do no damage at all to the meaning of either.
That is beyond sad. We visited the region of Poland where my ancestors lived. We thought everyone had been murdered in the camps. We had an incredibly knowledgeable…no brilliant guide. One day in a tiny village 100+K from Krakow we found a family record. A relative (would’ve been my father’s first cousin once removed) left Krakow in 1937 to go to Israel. Of the hundreds of relatives in Poland at the time she’s the only one to live. Her family/my family are now Israelis … exhibiting an utter lack of historical insight … as today the Zionists do to Palestinians & the Greater Middle East exactly/precisely what Hitler did to dissidents & Jews.
Shame on you Zionists for defiling Judaism & Jewish people everywhere.
My sister called me a communist yesterday. She has no idea what she's talking about. She believes what FOX and friends tells her. She and her husband are so f*ing brainwashed it makes me want to puke. Their stupidity and ignorance brings it home to me that the threat of these iDJiTs is real. I have never been so scared for our country. I voted last week. BLUE up and down the ballot.
Thank you, Dr. Richardson for continuing to educate us. And I'm thankful for this Comments page where I can vent.
"Fascism thrives on ignorance and indifference." This is where our schools and teaching "civics" comes in. "Steve" you outline the danger well. As a retired public school teacher, the mindset of Americans is so manipulated that this thinking makes a mockery of what I/We've taught! Thank you Heather for your work in reminding us of what's at stake and the opportunity for commentary in this space.
I recommend historian Tim Snyder’s Substack for a simple 3 part description of fascism.
He also provides a summary of Trump and Ukraine in a 10 point summary.
Both Heather and Tim are excellent at educating us about the reality and risk of American fascism.
The cowardice and greed of billionaires bending the knee to Trump means that only the masses, through our votes, can stop this profoundly ignorant and dangerous man from dismantling American democracy.
The US Army's perception of Naziism was more about propaganda than German social and political realities, saturated with inbuilt social and ethnic prejudices which the Nazis simply hoovered up and augmented. It wasn't just Jews. Only half the victims of the death camps were Jewish. By far the largest target of ethnic hatred were Slavic peoples to the east, generally considered inferior and "subhuman". The Nazis war plans in the invasion of the Russian empire included a mass extermination of human beings to make room for the colonists from the German Master Race. The Nazis did not invent the idea, they simply implemented what many Germans already thought but on their own not out to exterminate. Once Hitler's war machine went into high gear to implement what had long been written about in his Mein Kampf, millions of armed Germans, highly organized killing specialists, were involved in mass murder in "the East". Let's say, maybe 10 20 million.... When the war was won by the Allies, they found they could not in fact rehabilitate German as a bulwark against the Communists, by "deNazification". There were just too many. Naziism had its obvious leaders, but it was also a mass movement. In the late 40s or so, the Allies gave up on deNazification, they were integrated into post-war Germany. They were part of Germany's transformation into an economic powerhouse in Europe, SANS war.
I won't sort all this out here, just add that you must admit that the Germans did succeed in essentially eliminating Jews from the nation. That brutal efficiency is a beacon of hope for fascists everywhere (even the ones here who deny that particular holocaust happened at all).
My own guesstimate is that out of a prewar population of 9 million Jews in Europe, the Nazis murdered 6 million, or around 70 percent. Jews and Roma were the two groups whose people Hitler sought to murder in their entirety. Poles were arrested and many murdered if they were intellectuals, scientists, teachers, or if like Czesława Kwoka and her mother, they had the unfortunate fate of living in areas of Poland Hitler coveted. Poles and other Slavic peoples were expected to become enslaved people to serve the Nazis in the Third Reich.
The mechanized slaughter of millions could only be possible in an a modern, industrial society. I have no patience with people who seek to minimize the number of Jews murdered under Hitler’s regime, or who try to claim the death camps were not foul and horrific places in which the Nazis sought to kill as many people as they did within the areas they controlled. To do otherwise is contemptible and an insult to the memories of those who were murdered.
Who today would spend the time to read & think about the pamphlet on Fascism - attached today to the by HCR? It would be tossed off & ridiculed by the media who bow to MAGA. Then tossed out with the trash.
Driving through rural PA this week the signs for the Republican candidates are not just paid billboards but free yard signs. Understanding why they might vote republican now is important but does not lead us to an outcome that will be a good one.
thank you for caring enough to do this. it is kind and patriotic and an enourmous effort. in June 2022 the Court demonstrated it understood its new role. In response I wrote the US Bill of Human Rights, and mailed it to my congressionsal delegation, state rep and senator, and a few other folks. That document is 4 pages and took me 14 months to deliver; it's exhausting to think about the effort you put in here, daily. So thanks again for loving people and the community we comprise, and good luck on November 5. It will be only the first step.
Excellent writing on history and facism. There is a series of videos produced by the government title Why we fight. You can find them on Youtube. Highly recommend people watch these videos. Very informative.
Thank you for today’s Letter and your work. A little perspective makes us soon realise there is cycle and revisiting the past helps us understand what goes on today.
Ironic and telling that we in Heather’s choir are shown this historic information but that this simple essay has not to my knowledge made any appearance in MSM.
Even with the best election results, the mind set of too many of we citizens will take generations to improve. With only two parties, I ponder if the democratic machine is so inclined….
Thanks Dr. - This is a great picture of one part of the coalition we must defeat. Another part to understand is the Christofacists. Propublica has been doing a deep dive study into them and some important info can be found here, if you please. >
Kudos to HCR once again! History has is always worth knowing. As I just "pontificated" in an e-mail to my siblings & friends (recommending the Thomas Friedman NYT essay of Octoer 15) ~
In reference to the challenges we and the collective West will face in the next few years, regarding a probable confrontation with China, et al: All at the same time, we have the situation of Britain and Germany (naval arms race) 1901-1914; 1930s and 1940 Europe and America, and the 5 post-WWII years. Are we going to have a Roosevelt and Truman, or a Lindbergh/Dewey/Robert Taft? - ERW
BINGO! Isn’t it something that people are able to learn so darn little from history that they do not experience themselves?! Stunning! It is good to review this but the media would have done the country a real service by plugging this at every opportunity over the last 6 months.
The classics never become irrelevant. Seems that the War Department produced a pamphlet for the ages. Too bad it's not in wide circulation. HCR's efforts help.
Buy, beg, or borrow a copy of Timothy Snyder's book, "On Freedom." Snyder is a Yale professor and historian, and I have learned more from listening to this book than in all the classes I have ever taken and books I have ever read. The path from colonial imperialism to fascism to "sadopopulism" is an ugly one. The book is dense and sometimes wears me out. But it's a good kind of tired.
Agree, Barbara, Snyder's book is absolutely crucial to comprehending what America and Americans are on the precipice of losing.
Keep in mind, trump has said he will seize power, "after the election". So imagine this...there will be NO "Inauguration Day", maybe no finished counting of ballots, and as drumpf has told the country, NO "Department of Justice" to prosecute laws that would protect Americans from a dictator.
Imagine El Salvador or even Nicaragua to your south. Remember what their citizens, their families endured. Do not assume that such a thing is unbelievable in America. It is not.
And while reading Snyder's book, keep your imagination fully alert as he discusses what freedom really is. Think about what, in your own personal life, disappears under a fascist state.
Your freedom is invisible, until you no longer have it.
It is important to anticipate and guard against real possibilities, first begins by imagining the worst, and then preparing effectively.
Let us hope such horrible imaginings never come to pass. That they won't, is not assured because eighty-million people want trump to be president. The only power Americans now possess is the ballot.
Good for Liz Cheney, unsubscribing to media which owner is afraid to stand guard for the country.
Wow! Im very impressed with our War Dept. of the time. They explained something complicated, and warned of how to recognize dangers at home. It was prescient.
I did not even realize that I was holding my breath the entire time I was reading this. It is so obvious, and has been for some time. It is also both terrifying and sad to think it is working. I am both scared and heartbroken for us and the world.
And women are up front in recognizing abortion band as a means of controlling so essential for the fascists to take over and thwart the thinking person's kickback. Young voters are less blinded by cult tactics and understand the serious character flaws of Trump's 34 felony convictions and any guilty verdict whenever he cannot avoid a jury of his peers. Here's to a successful Harris/Walz ticket.
RE: "Americans should not be fooled into thinking that fascism could not come to America ...."
Back in 2006, John Dean warned us about this authoritarian threat in "Conservatives Without Conscience." In 2020, he followed up with "Authoritarian Nightmare."
The quote from Dean's first book that I use frequently, is:
"Probably about 20 to 25 percent of the adult American population is so right-wing authoritarian, so scared, so self-righteous, so ill-informed, and so dogmatic that nothing you can say or do will change their minds. … And they are so submissive to their leaders that they will believe and do virtually anything they are told. They are not going to let up and they are not going away."
(Those who voted for DJT in 2020, 74,225,839, represented 22.4% of our total 2020 population, 331,893,745. That vote also represented 28.7% of all eligible voters, 258,339,023.). They are a minority and are easy to beat at the polls.
Based on his 2006 book, I wrote this on the blog I started in 2005:
“Can There Really Be Fascist People In A Democracy?” – John Dean Exposes The Authoritarians that Are Leading the Way
Whay a shame that this instruction (and instructive) Governmental pamphlet wasn't available earlier in this campaign. It should have become a key concept in all of the Blue Candidates' campaign literature, and a major part of every Blue candidate's campaign. Now, unfortunately, it's too late.
Stating the obvious, it seems that efforts to promote fascism and erode democracy in the US have been quite successful. Outrage, disgust and hand wringing aren’t adequate countermeasures to overcome them. I keep thinking about HCR’s letter from yesterday, which explained that Elon Musk with a top secret security clearance was somehow allowed to have several conversations with President Putin, an advisory that uses state resources to try to throw our elections. And if he is speaking the truth, the Director of NASA didn’t even seem to get a heads up from US Intelligence Agencies. Those sorts of weaknesses or areas of incompetence seem to be easily exploited by the new Republican Party and their authoritarian allies overseas. The oath of office has been repeatedly ignored by so many members of Congress and so many people in vital positions in the last administration that it feels like there are too many to count. All without consequence. On and on.
The uncertainty Covid engendered has heightened the appeal of "I'll fix everything and take care of you." The pandemic made most of us feel like we just crested the peak of a roller coaster and were screaming down the long slope with our stomachs in our mouths. In more level times most of us would have taken one look at Agent Orange and thought "he can't even take care of himself, how's he gonna take care of me?"
I'm not into fat shaming, and in fact I believe that some corpulence is a survival holdover from Neanderthal people who needed an extra layer to make it through the winter. However in the felon's case his natural skin tone, which we can see at the margins of his makeup and on his hands, is really pasty and unhealthy. His physical decline is clear in his shambling walk. His mental decline is equally clear in his inability to follow a thread of conversation or remember words. This is simply a person who needs care, not a caretaker.
Although I'm appalled at his notions of how to govern, there are those who like them. I think those people are victims of their own ignorance and susceptible to the wild propaganda the MAGA machine spews, but they get to vote, and here we are. The polling has always placed his main supporters as uneducated white males. The obvious solution is to educate them, but they're largely immune to learning or changing their minds about anything. Those who can "evolve" have already moved to the Harris camp. Our best hope is to get out the vote among the educated, as the illiberal government the felon proposes will not turn off enough (or any) of his supporters to turn away from MAGA.
Thank you for the refresher/more in depth history lessons. This fits in well with a book I am reading Book and Dagger by Elyse Graham. It covers how the United States needed to quickly create an intelligence agency as we ramped up to joining our allies in WWII. Trump and his co-conspirators use some of those techniques to try and sway public opinion and keep the faithful riled up.
I was in Vietnam in 1968/1969. The military paper was Stars and Stripes. I can not exaggerate how anti-war much of the writing was. I how "gone over to the other side" the side that was conscious of the disaster th is war was, focused on the 'military industrial co mplex' making profits mostly with minimal concern for American or Vietnamese lives. Reading this from 1943 about Donald trump/project 2025/Republican party/fascism is an incredible reminder of how distorted some men's minds can be, but being here with Heather and this group instills hope and even Faith in the United States of America.
Every American should read this and tell me how it does not describe the openly published plan that Trump and friends have for America if he prevails on November 5th. Thank you for uncovering it, Heather!
It has fallen to me, the humor columnist, to endorse Harris for presidentOpinion
Isn’t this what a newspaper is supposed to do?
(Hint to Bezos: Sell WaPo and keep the hell out of politics if you're going to enable fascists just to keep your gluttonous empire. My comment, not Alexandra Petri's)
Thank you for today's letter! I just shared it on my FB feed with this intro:
This is a long read, but it explains Fascism and why our grandfathers fought Hitler and Stalin. You know, WWII in 1940s. And, why it is imperative to vote blue now. We cannot become an authoritarian country. If this is what you want, then move to one, don't make America one! Please share this widely. Thank you.
In today’s letter, Professor Richardson chillingly presents a 1945 Department of War pamphlet that explains fascism. In just a few pages, we can see that not only are we reliving this scenario now 79 years later, we are experiencing it exactly according to the original playbook. Frightening isn’t a strong enough adjective!
Wow! This has been the battle of every democracy where the few try to steal the wealth and work of the many. Steal the hard fought freedoms of the male workers, and who see women as sex workers, handmaids, and breeders…that’s JD and DJ in a nutshell! And nuts to this!
The only cure for this toxic masculinity are strong caring humans who see the world differently!
The God of Love is not a fascist!
No matter how hard they try we will fight hate and fear!
Thank you thank you thank you for telling the truth every time you write , even though the truth is hard to read. I appreciate every letter you write and wanted to say so. 🙏🏻💜
Copies of the 3/24/45 “Army Talks” pamphlet need to be printed, distributed (air-dropped) everywhere, including on Trump’s Madison Square Garden event tonight! Where can I get a copy to print?
“Fascism is not the easiest thing to identify and analyze,” it said, “nor, once in power, is it easy to destroy."
Easily identifiable fascism is on the ballot next month. And if it is given power, it will happily point out that its plans were openly disclosed during the campaign, and treat it as a mandate. And they will be correct to do so.
Democracy will die in America, in broad daylight. This is truly an existential election.
Trump the Fascist was spotted on Labor Day Sunday, September 2016.
Nine years later. Here we are. On the threshold of another nightmare.
A nightmare worse than all the previous times when America fought and defeated the evils of the English aristocracy, America’s Slavery, Europe’s Hitler, America’s 9-11, and four years of President Trump’s fascism.
We defeated Fascism in 2020. We will defeat it again.
A majority of US are not fascists. We will never vote for a fascist, especially one who tried and FAILED to overthrow our democracy on January 6, 2021.
Than you SOOO much for that 1945 pamphlet from the war department on Fascism! I is SO well stated. I have a fabulous but handicapped grandson who has trouble understanding consequences of actions and thoughts. I think he can understand this and will forward it. He says he wont vote. I hope he learns, votes, and for real Democracy, Harris! Thank you for this article!!!
Thank you for this history. I understand that the definition and description of fascism does not change over time, but in reading this war pamphlet from 80 years ago it is so easy to identify the many elements that are in daily politics and the actions many republicans have taken in the past few years as they seek to destroy individual freedoms. And Mitch and Mike want to call out Harris for correctly describing this behavior in Trump . . .
Do you have any images of this document? A huge social media campaign built around it would be useful but the youths like pictures. A pic of the front page with a link to the full text would be very powerful. I’ll look around for it.
I keep posting, people turn off, and now a local GOP office had a vile bomb threat!! Such a travesty—tragedy when, in the midst of plenty and continuing possibilities, as well as the chances we have to address overwhelming climate challenges and tragedies and wars, we can’t even keep it together’ as a country, let alone localities and even some families. We are losing our collective minds. And however this election goes, we’ll have more to heal. Courage, you all…
So, I note the issue you reference in this post is not among those in the incomplete (and curated) archive at the University of Richmond, even though a scan exists in the Internet Archive. I am willing to wager it was in the University of Richmond's collection ten years ago. It is very sobering to think it would be in the nation's interest for the Army to republish it now, unedited.
this should be required reading for every citizen. I've stopped responding to two people who insist that our choice in November is between T and communism. No verifiable facts move them on centimeter from their position. if he wins, they'd better not complain or whine.
Thank you, Professor Richardson, for all your Letters. I’m always learning from you. I wish this pamphlet had been given to every 6th grader in America starting in 1945 and to every new citizen. Perhaps some of the right-wing extremists of the past 80+ years might have developed different views and understanding of what they were being exposed to and (here’s where my optimism and wishful attitude comes into play) we might not be on the brink of becoming governed by an outright malevolent narcissist whose only concern is himself. I hope that enough Americans in every state can see the dangers that lie ahead if the Republicans gain the White House, and will vote to keep and strengthen democracy.
I too thank both Professor Richardson and Steve for their percipient and profound analysis of how things stand today. I do feel that it is now all a bit late. Trump aided and abetted by Elon Musk is on the White House's doorstep. As is well-known, "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it". In Europe where I am, the words of John Kelly are currently being highlighed - Trump's attitude to power fits the precise definition of fascism. I also like the description of fascism and Trumpism - lies about everything except about violence (and hatred). Europe, composed of allies (until 5 November when almost all of its many countries may become estranged from the US) faces, as a journalist today puts it, a clear and present danger - NATO being threatened plus the stability of the global economy (with tariffs on trade), climate change, the cohesion of democracies and even freedom from arbitrary arrest and imprisonment (in Russia allied to state murder). There is also contempt for European leaders. However, Europe is not yet finished. Sweden and Finland have joined NATO. Neutral Switzerland is not totally averse to helping. An internal alliance of the Nordic and Baltic states plus Poland and the UK, not forgetting the EU, is firm in financial and military support for Ukraine, which Putin (bolstered by his Iranian, North Korean and Chinese allies) seems to want to turn into a vassal state as compensation for losing 500000 men in the field. The reference to millions of refugees if he achieves his objectives is apt. For Ukraine's considerable war machine to get into Putin's hands would be an added threat, especially for Poland. As a last rather fundamental point, in Denmark where I live, turnout for elections is generally expected to be 80%. All citizens over 18 get a letter in the post with indications about voting. No-one can be left out as there is a national ID system. So it is c. 80% of everyone. At school, learning about democracy and participation by voting is a standard part of the curriculum. Too late now for the US to change and improve, but since hope springs eternal, perhaps Harris will win or if not then one day things can return to normal and lessons can be learned. Time will tell.
I loved my two weeks in Denmark. They take the climate emergency seriously, for one thing. Health care there is terrific, as we learned from personal experience. I am sorry that the rest of the world is affected by our dysfunctional politics. If only we were mature enough to learn something from other countries.
Denmark, in addition to being an agreeable place to live in, is very well run on the basis of consensus politics, quite heavily taxed but with correspondingly good public services (e.g you are paid to go to college). And, public debt is an incredibly low 33.7% of GDP. It is also on a per capita basis the biggest contributor to helping Ukraine.
Few, if any, voting age Americans have any real knowledge about fascism or democracy, for that matter. Infotainment has replaced investigative news reporting, and false equivalence has replaced reporting based on facts and evidence in context. Ignorance and predation are the operating principles from which the minority right wing promulgates.
No one of public prominence speaks about the coming American on American violence we all will suffer. It's a predator's buffet, and the American citizenry is being served.
“Fascist governments run the people” …. And the people run for their lives.
Thank you for this excellent reminder, Heather!
Biden should paper the country with the words of our WWII pamphlets. Americans are wiefully ignorant of their own history and the history of the countries who are our NATO allies that they cannot tell friend from foe! Hence 45% support a candidate who supports our biggest foes, ie., Putin and Orban.
According to a segment on Friday's PBS edition, David Brooks and L.Z. Granderson seemed to agree that Harris should focus more on the economy, because that's what most voters care about and many don't understand what fascism means. Unfortunately, that was the scenario in Germany in 1934 when Hitler took power.
I guess Kelley, et al are right . He’s a fascist. Glad they waited until almost too late to tepidly reveal what they’ve known for years to be true. No heroes in that lot.
As a nation we have rested on our democratic laurels for far too long, and now it may be too late to save ourselves from Fascism. Too many of us have become such self-interested consumers we can no longer come to grips with the really important things in life and are (or at least feel) helpless when faced with an actual Fascist (see War Department definition) who has cleverly (give the Devil his due) convinced a whole lot of basically spoiled, unhappy, racist, sexist, xenophobic and apparently ill-educated Americans that he will be their savior, right all wrongs and somehow restore us to the paradisiacal state in which we once lived, y'know, back before any of us were actually born.
You would think a mongrel population like ours would not be so proud of having American blood and genes and mores and religious beliefs.
It's as if Mussolini and Hitler and many other unwholesome leaders both past and present had never spelled it out for us. Oh no, we're too rich and exceptional for any of that. A dictatorship here? Are you kidding? Here??
One of the most successful businessmen in the history of business and owner of The Washington Post, Jeff Bezos, has just revealed himself as totally gutless and refused to listen to his editors and journalists who wanted him to endorse Kamala Harris for President. Bezos apparently believes Trump has a credible enough chance of either winning the election or succeeding this time with a post election coup d'etat, that he is hedging his bets. He has an enormous fortune to protect and plenty of other things going on involving the US Government, so he does not want to be hassled by any President Trump who might feel dissed by some unkind, on-the-record statements about him that Bezos surely now wishes he had never made.
Bezos seems to have calculated that the Washington Post, venerable source of truthful reporting and example of journalistic courage over many decades, can be thrown under the bus for his business convenience. This is cowardly and Bezos is now a disgrace, but it doesn't matter to him if all WaPo subscribers cancel their subscriptions and the Post goes bankrupt because it is just a question of POCKET CHANGE compared to the big store. Uh huh, Amazon.
There is a short must-read article in The Atlantic (26 October 2024) by Ellen Cushing entitled "Don't Cancel the Washington Post, Cancel Amazon Prime". She explains why you should NOT cancel your WaPo subscription (a lot of journalists and other workers will lose their jobs), but cancel your Prime subscription and/or boycott all things Amazon instead.
The link to the article is below, but there is a pay wall I think. There are ways around that, however.
Bravo, thank you for providing this piece of history. At this moment I'm finding a lot of people out there, not grasping this at all. They just don't see the big picture and understand the danger of Trump in the WH again. One old friend of mine who taught college PR classes and is conservative has decided to not vote. She's afraid of both sides equally. That's how good the propaganda is.
What that War Department memo didn't point out, and I'm 99% sure most of its white readers didn't get, was that a homegrown form of fascism was already thriving in the U.S. South -- and was well represented in Congress. That became apparent with the rise of the civil rights movement and the subsequent passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of the mid-1960s. The GOP embraced it, first with Nixon's "southern strategy" then by welcoming with open arms the opponents of Roe v. Wade (1973). In 1980 along came Reagan, whose administration went to work applying on a national scale what he had done in California. Thus began a steep, slippery slide to where we are now: with the Republic in serious danger from plutocrats like Bezos, Thiel, and Musk. I've got my fingers crossed that the slide can be reversed, but it's going to take much more than one election.
Can't thank you enough, Heather, for all you do to keep us educated and focused on the all too real implications of current events, and especially for today's Letter which presents the horrifying reality behind what so many people think is just another derogatory word thrown at someone in a tight election. Anyone who fought in WWII, however, their immediate descendants, and your loyal readers are aware of the dangers of Fascism and a Trump re-election. This Letter needs a wider audience. Could you please submit it as an Op-Ed to the Washington Post, The LA Times, the NY Times, and every other news outlet that you can? And could we all make sure it gets shared with everyone and anyone we think might find it illuminating? Thank you, thank you, and thank you, again.
Right on cue Heather!! I was so hoping you would reference this war dept pamphlet again. It was one of the first references you list in your letters that i actually looked at. I downloaded and printed lots of copies at that time and handed out to all my "friends". Time to repeat it. Simply unbelievable to me we are this close to losing our democracy.
There can be no doubt as to what they have planned; we are standing on a precipice, and we aren't sure who will rise and who will fall. I am so frightened.
I was two years old when this pamphlet was published. And it is relevant today. Maybe even more so than in 1945. With deep gratitude, I say thank you for publishing it. A stark reminder of where we are...and where we might be. God forbid. Yesterday I was so depressed I wasn't sure I'd make it through the day. Depression has a downward spiral that is hard to break. Been there? If you really want to be depressed read the Oct. 14th New Yorker's article entitled "When the Ice Melts" about Greenland's ice cap melting. The election will be irrelevant anyway. Today is a new day with bright New Mexico sun. And I'm going to be a driver for GOTV. Do something!!
Penny, you are not alone. I’ve started putting my phone on do not disturb so I won’t hear all the beeps from all the fundraising requests and after reading Heather‘s column and a couple of newspapers that’s it for me for the day until the PBS NewsHour. That’s it, I do sneak peek at, some New York Times notifications now and then. It’s all too much, isn’t it? Our election, the Middle East, the Taliban in Afghanistan and what they’ve done to women, women in Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, Yemen, Ukraine… The Internet brings it all to our door every minute of the day in real time.
Aside from taking care of all of my plants I’m involved in some local community activities around beautification and neighbors getting to know neighbors. I’m also remembering that there are wonderful novels that can take me away and transport me to a different place. I listen to Pandora sometimes, either the Carlos Nakai station or the André Segovia station. Both are soothing to me. I wish you the best in finding what works for you.
I read the source material on which your column was based to get a sense of the full context from which you quoted. Everything is there, and clear in a similar way to what you present. A premise of your column is that this explanation of Fascism from 80 years ago is meaningful today. Yet the “Supplemental Material” at the end of the pamphlet is laughably absurd—wherein the War Department attempts to describe how Communism, the system under which our then ally, the USSR, operated, differs from Fascism. Our Government was telling us that there were important differences: the Soviet Union was peace-loving and did not want war, sought international alliances, and valued the rights and freedoms of their multinational citizenry. Our government was down-playing the deep similarities between Fascism and Communism, and between what Hitler had done and what Stalin was still in the process of doing. I find it harder to give full value to this description of Fascism in a context where the description of Communism was so whitewashed to achieve a propaganda end.
I hope at some future time you’ll speak to this systemic acceptance of the Soviet Union as our dear ally that existed in our Government during WWII, and how, maybe, it lead to the anti-Communist backlash that allowed people like Sen. Joseph McCarthy to hold sway over our political system and to persecute and destroy American citizens in the late 40’s and early 50’s. The power play by our Communist “ally” immediately after the war ended required a severe about-face in our assessment of who and what the USSR was.
At least you got to read it on the Internet Archive. The Archive was recently offline because it was hacked. Enjoy the privilege while it is available. Better, download a pdf and keep for offline reading. Best, send the Archive a couple bucks from time to time (no, I do not have any affiliation with them – I just send money when I can).
"The propaganda glorifies war and insists it is smart and 'realistic' to be pitiless and violent."
I can understand how such propaganda could appeal to an angry young man who might take pride in having a stoic, cynical, macho attitude and perhaps feels unloved.
But I think women are going to crush this one. Humpty Trumpty is going to have a great fall.
Women for Trump reminds me of Roaches for Raid or Chickens for Col. Sanders. It really disgusted me to see Trump, who is well known for his sexually predatory behavior toward women and his lust for his own elder daughter, to claim he would “protect” women. If you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you!
Bret Devereaux, on his website: "A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry," offers an excellent analysis of why Donald Trump should be considered a fascist, and Trumpism is fascism
Thank you for your continued excellence educating your fellow citizens.
I wish your current letter could be published in every newspaper across the country right now!. It is so spot on to what is happening under our very noses.
This is one of the most important elections of our lifetime.
I see a historian's wise guidance in this pamphlet Heather quotes from the War Department. “[T]hey adopt names and slogans with popular appeal, drape themselves with the American flag, and attempt to carry out their program in the name of the democracy they are trying to destroy.”
I can't help thinking of the song the late John Prine wrote, "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore":
"Well, I got my window shield so filled with flags, I couldn't see
So, I ran the car upside a curb and right into a tree
By the time they got a doctor down, I was already dead
And I'll never understand why the man standing in the pearly gate said
But your flag decal won't get you into Heaven anymore...."
I believe the most important question is WHY might a majority of voters be seduced by the Trump playbook and believe their interests are best served by the GOP? It seems obvious to us that they are clearly voting against their own self interests and to the detriment of our Country. But why might they be so vulnerable to the rantings of these obviously fascist forces? I no longer think it is because they are not smart enough. I think they are voting in their own self interests - having been betrayed since the inception of trickle down economics.
Look, I am a 76 year old woman who lives on the California coast. I am well educated, live in a nice house with a beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge and pride myself on being a caring person who has often been a champion for the underdog. I majored in Economics and then got my MBA at UC Berkeley. I learned from Berkeley, Harvard, Stanford, etc. all the big business schools that the purpose of a corporation was to increase the wealth of its shareholders. Not its "stakeholders" which would include employees, our communities, the children in our communities, our Country ..... Nope, just the shareholders. It did not take me too long to figure out that this was plain wrong .... as I watched the gap between corporate executives and their "workers" expand exponentially.
It is my guess that most of us who read and cherish Professor Richardson have prospered since the advent of trickle down economics. We did not mean that our prosperity would come at the expense of others or would reduce the opportunities of others. The "professional" class in this country simply outpaced most other classes and contributed to the equity gap. Perhaps not as obviously or egregiously at the "billionaire" class, but all the same our "wins" turned out to be "losses" of others. My reading of "Poverty, by America" by Matthew Desmond convinced me that this is the case.
Fareed Zakaria offered his opinion on WHY voters are vulnerable to Trump, the GOP, 47, and Project 2025 and I think there is wisdom in his words.
Thanks for letting me share these thoughts which have been grumbling around inside me for awhile now. It finally occurred to me that even if Kamala wins this election, we might already have lost what we love. These are indeed dangerous times.
This should have been headlined and published across the country some time ago as a timely warning to all Americans! Many of us whose parents lived through World War Two grew up understanding why it was fought. It seems that understanding has not been passed on to younger generations.
The Wikipedia entry on the America First Committee ends by mentioning Donald Trump's use of America First in the 2016 presidential campaign, noting that people wondered in what way his administration would take an isolationist stand. The War Department pamphlet quoted extensively in this post should help to show how the neutral position on the Ukraine war fits the picture.
Today must be the first time in 85 years that there has been an "America First" rally at Madison Square Gardens, with Fred Trump in attendance and Nazi flags on display; though there was another in 1940 when Charles Lindberg was the American candidate for president. Many people have been asking why Donald Trump wanted to speak at this venue, but I have seen no such obvious answer in the press.
What’s in the forefront of my mind when I read this is personal. Memories of a 96 year old friend who was a bombardier in WWII saying about today’s MAGA “Don’t they know that Nazis are not nice people? This is why I fought against them.” Also my Mom who’s 1st husband died fighting in Europe 3 days before their first anniversary. Leaving her widowed at 19 with a severely handicapped daughter. People sacrificed to fight this blight….how soon we forget.
This was very timely, and incredibly valuable. Downloaded and have distributed copies of the Army Talk #64 to our leadership team. We are a cross-partisan veterans group supporting the Proposition 1 initiative (open primaries, ranked choice voting) in Idaho.
A lot of the pushback we are getting, especially from veterans who disagree with Prop 1, is couched in classic fascist vernacular.
When their replies to our newsletters contain aspersions, we will be responding with a pdf of #64, and encouraging them to read and reflect
Yes to your first sentence, no to your second, Barbara. As a recovering historian, I would say that historians "find" stuff all the time. I've had that experience myself. It helps if you have a reasonable idea of where to look for stuff and a better idea of what something is when you find it. Then you tell what it means.
What an excellent column! I consider myself reasonably well-read and educated, but I learn something new from almost every one of your letters. I'd never heard of that 1945 pamphlet that describes fascism so thoroughly and clearly. Too bad it's too late for a reprint. Should have been included with every mailed ballot.
Fox talking heads harp on about how high inflation has been in the U.S. since January 1, 2021. It should be noted that inflation in Hungary during this period under fascist model Victor Orban has been more than twice the inflation experienced in the U.S.
After reading this, I could not help but remember Benjamin Franklin's quote on liberty: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." The army's pamphlet titled "Army Talks" on March 24, 1945, must have had Franklin's quote in mind and simply expanded on it. Insisting that Franklin's words become central in our educational system on our history will remind the public that our framers of the Constitution (certainly most of them, excluding folks like South Carolina's John Rutlege, a representative to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, and who defended slavery) believed in Franklin's words. It would be nice to have thousands of bumper stickers made of this illustrious quote. One might think it would give some MAGA folks an incentive to think: one can only hope.
Someone explain to me why a replica of the government publication has been printed in the millions and handed out in farmer’s markets, flea markets, colleges, and door to door.
Not just in swing states — in every city, town, commonwealth, territory, and state.
I attended a lecture by former Secretary Rice about the juxtaposition of Isolationism and globalism and of course, the dangers of isolationism in particular but the valid concerns of the isolationists. I am leaning more and more to encourage all of us to see the truth in each other, even if our solutions to that truth vary greatly. Don't start with solutions. Start with the concerns and interests of the "other". The worst moment of former Secretary Clinton's 2016 campaign was her "deplorable" reference. (Of course Trump does the same ad nauseam and his base gives him a pass. The right does not hold themselves to the same standard as dems in general, but none of us needs to participate in this type of ugly discord.)
Those who identified themselves as Trump's "deplorable" believe that the entitled "woke" attitude of the left and/or educated elite is the problem. And there is some truth in that. Instead of ignoring that, what would happen if leaders of the left like Kamala and Tim admitted that this attitude is problematic for our party? What if we apologized and admitted that we have been judgmental and condescending and we are sorry. What if we emphasized that we need everyone's expertise and each part of the whole is no more important than the other part. That we can appreciate and be thankful for plumbers and professors, waiters and wonks and that our goal needs to be sitting with each other and being grateful for each other's contributions.
Susan, I would agree with most of what you said. However, I take issue that our "'woke' attitude" is the problem. I would like to believe that you, as well as I, and the hundreds of posters on this thread, understand that being woke is to be aware of the dangers that the Trump right of center has imposed on all of us - including the regular man or woman who vote or believe in Trump. Those on the right, such as Florida's governor DeSantis and writers/creators of Project 2025, Paul Dans, Keven Roberts, and even Peter Navaro and the like, who have made it their life's work to shut down any semblance of sanity and reality in fairness sorely needed in this nation are greater "deplorables" than any of the common men or women on the street who vote for Trump. They (folks like Dans, Roberts, et. al.) are all criminals in cognitive assault on the people of the United States. Trump is complicit no matter how much he may deny his role. We can't prosecute anyone for "cognitive assault"; however, we have to tell it like it is and uncover the ugly truth embedded in the current right which no longer even has any semblance to the old GOP. I remember old George W. Bush bumper stickers saying: "Do you miss me yet?" And I would laugh, chuckle, and think what an idiotic sign. Now however, I say: "God yes! In a certain light, I do miss him compared to what we now have to contend with." I'm perfectly aware that the republicans have inched their way up to this debacle with which we now contend. To decline "woke" to any degree would, I believe, be a mistake. I do agree with the tenor of your argument regarding Hillary Clinton's call of Trump's people "basket of deplorables." Right off the bat, I cringed when she said that. To a certain extent, I knew where she was coming from and again, to a certain extent, I agreed with her. I have wonderful neighbors who voted for Trump; I, under no circumstances, ever saw them as "deplorables." And yet, there is no question that I know some who are frankly...well..."deplorable." Nevertheless, it was a bad mistake, and it should never have been said.
I wonder if any G.I.s reading that in 1945 wondered why they were not in an integrated Army, why the white guys had their base and the colored guys base was separate. Of course those from the South didn't think that, because it was like that back home with the black underclass segregated from the white. And the KKK talked about "America First." (Hitler got some of his ideas from our segregated society in the U.S.) And the word Fascist comes from a bundle of sticks tied together representing unity which the Romans called Fasces, which is on the back of our dimes both in 1945 & present.
As Pogo said, "We have met the Enemy and he is US"
Steve. Did anyone REALLY get called into account over sending the National Guard to kill those students at Kent State? What about My Lai? It's already BEEN happening for over 60 years.
And, yes: thank you to Heather Cox Richardson for pointing this out. THIS VALUABLE INFORMATION.
Project 2025 and the Trump-Vance ticket threaten to drag America toward a dangerous path of modern fascism. This agenda aims to weaken democratic safeguards, undermine civil rights, and enforce ultra-nationalistic policies under centralized control. Imagine a future where dissent is stifled, freedoms are curtailed, and “patriotism” means allegiance to authoritarian power. That’s the fascist vision Project 2025 embodies. This election, democracy is on the line. Americans must resist this dark turn toward oppression by voting to protect our rights, our freedoms, and our nation’s integrity. Stand against fascism—2024 is our chance to choose democracy over tyranny. Don’t let it slip away.
I consider the Christian nationalists to be the American Taliban - different Imaginary Friend but the same goals, and fascist to the core. Marry religion and politics to get the bastard fascist child which has become the Republicrat party, in my opinion.
In March, 1945 my father, a Coast Guard radio officer assigned to convoy duty on Liberty ships, was in port in Marseilles on what would be his last voyage carrying supplies for the liberation of Germany from Nazi rule. He told me that around the middle of the return voyage he received a notice from the War Shipping Administration that convoys were to avoid approaching surfaced German submarines flying surrender flags as they were likely to be fired upon by disaffected crews who did not agree with the surrender to the Allies. Winning a war may be better than the alternative but it always comes at a cost and is never as quick or clean as we may wish to believe. I consider the upcoming election as similar in many respects.
I have prepared my ballot and will be voting early in-person next week. The plan is to wave and smile at the T. Rump poll watchers and then cast my vote for Harris/Walz. I refuse to be intimidated by those who have raised political lies to a fine art - let them think what they may, confrontation is never going to change them, only strengthen their resolve. Be sure to thank the poll workers, they are doing their best.
This whole election to date is so damn scary. Last night on YouTube I watched presentation by Michelle Obama at a rally and she was incredible. She covered everything that I feel the most important part as a woman was how she covered every issue of women and what the Roe vs Wade has done to all women of all ages And then today I watched Midas touch and how women are far outnumbering men going to the polls and voting we have to keep Hope alive!💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙
I actually remember hearing about these Army Talks as a kid. Heather's reference moved me to look them up in the archives she documented. One jumped out at me, triggering memories of how we referred to Germans at the time….Jerries. The army talk “See yourself as Jerry sees you” (https://richmond.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_3db2283b-9060-4387-9e5a-3d688cf71022/) is particularly compelling to me, since this is what I was taught at the time. (I'm 86, started school in 1943, and was an absolute sponge for whatever was happening in the larger world outside my family and especially for messages about the war, which dominated everything in our lives. Read this one 'talk' and you will immediately recognize the connections between Jerry and the Donald.
So maybe it's time to focus on fascism and present a strong message that cannot be ignored about how dangerous Trump and his followers actually are. Yes, people have regularly talked about saving democracy, but that comes out as a platitude if the full information is not constantly explained to the masses who only watch Fox and believe in Trump, not realizing how serious his presidency would be. Americans realized after his first term that he was terrible and he lost by 7000 MILLION votes, so what has changed? He's the same person but far more vindictive and angry and cruel with what he is spewing to the American public. That should have been a wake-up call that he is the same chaotic, angry president the first time. Leaders have to bombard the airwaves, the radio, and everything possible to make people realize that he is anathema to everything that is American democracy. Every effort must be given to scare Americans about a Trump presidency and it's detrimental effect on not just them but the world!!! Terri Quint
Cogent and timely. As always. Putting a face to the rhetoric of white nationalism as fascists and clearly recalling our attempt to bring knowledge from the argument brought to us from WW II is incredible! As Pogo said "We have met the enemy and he is us", now we have to vote!
Can you imagine the Department of Defense publishing this today--it would take a nano-second for Speaker Mike to haul its authors up before a House tribunal. (Thereby proving the pamphlet's point.)
Joe Rogan to trump “your weave is getting wide”. NYTs letter from 225 mental health professionals trumps dangerous psychopathology. Kamala has a funny laugh Hillary has a shrill voice Don’t like that Kamala couldn’t stop the Israel war. But Putin friendship with musk and trump is okay. Netanyahu is probably doing part of what he’s doing to hurt Kamala and aid trump. Trump can stop the Ukraine Russian war by withholding aid and allowing Russia to take what it wants. Booming economy and job market gas prices down stock market up inflation stabilizing with dropping interest rates. Yea let’s return to the good old days and put chaos and instability back in are daily lives. I’m still hopeful.
If the Biden/Harris administration had clearly stated these facts about Fascism some months ago, would we be in this horrible situation now? Even well-educated, intelligent people I know can't give a good definition of Fascism. If the majority of Americans understood, I think that the "Blue Wave" would definitely be the outcome of this election. Instead, I think that any "Blue Wave" will be because a lot of Americans simply detest Trump.
And one extra comment: Hitler himself rose to lead the Nazi movement through his rousing speeches. Later, his enthralling performances at rallies were key to his dominance. Trump is absolutely a parallel here, and to the shame of America he’s history repeating as entertaining farce. He mixes the confidence man’s promises of wealth with promises of his loving embrace, and again with merry war against all Others. People who are interviewed at his rallies happily admit they know nothing about the policies he attacks - because he, like Mussolini and Hitler before, simply enthralls them.
It’s the handicap of American liberal democrats that we offer something whose temperature is much cooler. Not the tight embrace but tolerant acceptance. You do you, ok? “Mind your own business” is in its own way isolating. We offer an essential safety net, help for those in need, and open, rational debate about best policies. Love - that’s for the personal, private zone. To rise to the challenge now requires deeply felt passion for justice, equality, everyone’s wellbeing. That must be what our leaders offer, and I’m happy to see it beginning. Then code it into policies - above all, taxation reforms that reduce the appalling inequality Americans suffer from. Welfare is not enough.
In the mid-70's I read Hal Lindsey's "The Late Great Planet Earth" twice, which is the authors interpretation of the Book of Revelations. In it, one of those interpretations was that a great power in the west collapses without a shot fired. Another is that Russia and China combine forces and invade the Middle East, bringing on the start of the end days. Interesting read.
Thank you, Professor Richardson. I either learn new things or relearn things I had forgotten when I read your daily letter. Right now, you are the only one I trust to give me this valuable information.
Our media is either afraid of DT or in his pocket or preserving their own pockets. It is killing democracy. We need the fairness doctrine back and citizens united drowned in the tiolet along with a good many of the supremes
On the other hand. There are millions of us who from 2016 have formed what we called The Resistance. Since that time the Democrats have been defeating MAGA candidates in 2018, 2020!, 2022 and even 2024. So while it does seem as if people have grown complacent (I agree) we are still here fighting.
I'm disappointed and even shocked that so many readers are praising this War Department memo of March 1945 without realizing that something closely akin to fascism had already been business as usual in the U.S. South for many decades. Hitler is said to have admired and learned from Jim Crow. Btw, the GI Bill benefited primarily *white* GIs and helped lay the groundwork for racist housing policies in the North, East, and West as well as the South.
The War Department pamphlet should be published on the front page of every newspaper, read on every news program, and spread across social media. Actually, it should be Prof. Cox Richardson letter but a message from the War Department may resonate with the right people. The fascists among us are recruiting voters every day with lies and hate.
Kinder, Küche, Kirche. My family was indoctrinated by this (I was born in Germany). Another poster my mom had to explain to me (very unwillingly) was "Gib dem Führer ein Kind". Give the Führer a child. A blond blue-eyed woman holding a blond, blue-eyed child.
This pamphlet should be required reading and training for all US military today. It is way past time, since so many have identified with the Trump camp.
Does our current armed forces' leadership publish anything like this? Do they consider educating those under their leadership and protection to be outside of their purview? It's been reported there is a high number of those in the military with far right views, and I recall how difficult it was to get some to take inoculations as well as the cooperation the January 6 insurrectionists had from some higher ups in the armed forces.
Thank you, thank you, Heather, for this particularly succinct and important newsletter today. I so wish every American of voting age would read this. March, 1945 is today. Scary stuff.
Too bad the government did not continue to publish these pamphlets and to distribute them to public schools. Seems like our civics classes need them now. (Do schools even offer and/or require civics classes any longer?
There you go again, Heather! You've found something relatively obscure from the past and made it so relevant for today. I am so grateful to you. I wish the Democrats could immediately print this by the millions for circulation. I am concerned about a comment I read recently that young people are choosing authoritarianism without understanding its repercussions. At first glance, it seems neater and offers a simple explanation of the status quo. There is something for everyone to identify with that gives them a feeling of superiority, whether religion, gender, race, or wealth. I'd appreciate your insight into whether this is true.
I am amazed at how accurately this 80 year old document describes the situation today. The document was prepared while the United States was engaged in a war against people preaching the same kind of hate that we see today in our society.
Wow! What a great essay, today, Ms Richardson! Once our government, imperfect in its idealism as it was, at least tried to be of the people. Though, growing up in the 50's, there was a GREAT deal of what I'd call fascism today. It was primarily directed against women and people of color.
I've always said the rot is behind the pulpit, and it is; that's where people are conditioned to obedience to unseen powers and where they often learn to hate and fear others. Though schools are often involved, since the 60's they have tried to moderate their programs to at least accommodate all students fairly. They've met vicious backlash in this regard. This is why the conservatives/fascists (sadly, the same thing right now) want public money for private religious schools.
In a fascist regime, so-called “average” citizens can’t just “go along to get along” as the Germans discovered at the end of WWII when their cities had been flattened, their homes and economy destroyed, and they had, as a people, become pariahs. Come on Sheeple—wake up! This is not only your life but also those of your children!
Great letter & words of wisdom from the people who fought against the German/Italian iteration of fascism. Goebbels the master manipulator spewed propaganda to the German "Volk" continualously until many/most believed what they heard. Modern day Goebbels abound by the dozens if not hundreds online in this country & around the world & thus it is very hard to root out their poisons.
After WWII the GI Bill provided a way for many young Americans to continue education & increase their knowledge & skills. Our middle class at that point was the engine that drove the US to its greatness during the Post War period, that plus the very real advantage of not having to rebuild entire bombed out & destroyed cities & infrastructure. Thanks to the Marshall Plan we provided help & aid to not only our Allies but also to our 'enemies'. Treating Germmay & Japan with compassion & strength we avoided the terrible mistakes of the Versaille Treaty that led the world back into conflict.
But now we face a different fascist movement, one from within, who are attempting to introduce all the dangers that Heather outlined so well. And like, Germany, we are on the cusp of "electing" a new group of fascist thugs. Thanks to the Slaveholders who influenced the Constitution & that the slaveholding states were needed to ratify that constitution we have been encumbered with the Electoral College which directly takes democratically elected majority presidents to be cast aside to be replaced by those with the electoral advantage. It's not right & it's not democratic but that is what we have been burdened with & until enough people can be taught & informed that it is necessary to pass an amendment to rectify that inequality we will be faced with these dangers over & over & over as the Tryranny of the Minority will not give up their stranglehold on this country until they get what they want, which may very well be this election.
If we are fortunate enough to have a President Harris & VP Walz & an intelligent administration of Americans loyal to the constitution & the law it will be an ongoing "most important election of our lives' for many cycles to come. At 76, I doubt that I will live to see this country make the transformation to a true democracy where the majority of the people elect their leaders. I just hope that my daughter & her husband & my granddaughter have the stamina & will be safe enough to continue the fight in their own ways.
We are not going to know who won this election for several days after election day as it will take a long time to get votes counted, especially in Pennsylvania where they are not allowed to even open the envelopes of the mail-in ballots until the polls close. (Hey, Pennsylvania, come into the 21st century & do what California does, open the damn ballots & count them as they come in! DUH!!) So our anxiety will only grow during those days & my guess is that is when we will see the violence begin. Who knows this time they may be sucessful in confiscating the voting machines or ballots. Gone are the days of waking up a day or two after an election & either being happy or disappointed in the outcome. Now we will have to deal with violence if the outcome doesn't please the current extremist & his or her cronies!
Since at least the rise of the Tea Party and the breakdown of Congress, the ‘Religious Right’, the anti-tax movement, the pernicious change of the NRA - a very toxic cocktail for democracy - I have understood that fascist government could well find a home here. There’s an excellent article in the current NY Review of Books, The Peril of Civil Breakdown:
Look in the mirror Heather. Censorship, lawfare, ministry of disinformation, 51 experts election interference, court packing, forever War, an unelected and anointed candidate, a coup, the Corporate Press, open borders, DEI… the list is extensive. Is that, Donald, JD, RFK, Tulsi and Musk?
Fascism, the U.S. government document explained, “is government by the few and for the few. The objective is seizure and control of the economic, political, social, and cultural life of the state.” “The people run democratic governments, but fascist governments run the people.”
“The basic principles of democracy stand in the way of their desires; hence—democracy must go! Anyone who is not a member of their inner gang has to do what he’s told. They permit no civil liberties, no equality before the law.”
Sounds like the Elite and the Administrative State to me… Kamala.
Trying to imagine soldiers capable of understanding such a treatise, let alone follow it into the logical consequences of actual democratic responsibility and guardedness. Definitely NOT a light-hearted pat-on-back. To the contrary, it is alerting and alarming. AND nothing has changed, aside from getting worse and having zero captive audience. Constant vigilance? Nowhere to be seen. Abundant evidence the authoritarians are winning? Everywhere. This needs to be republished and reemphasized and put in historical perspective. This is NOT a recent concern.
If only the March 24, 1945 topic could be published again now - to help ALL Americans become better-informed citizens, and therefore vote to save democracy in this country, and to improve the possibility of peace in this world. Thank you, Heather, for all that you do.
Authentics "Christians" have accepted the blood of Christ to wash them clean before the Father, then receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The evidence of this indwelling are the fruits of the Spirit:
Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control. These gifts are manifested in how Self and Others are treated. Evidence of the fruit is action toward OTHERS, not just words! To call an apple a banana doesn't make it so! John 3:16
Thanks Heather - very timely. Key people in the FDR and Truman Administrations understood the POWER of propaganda. Sadly, some key people on our Supreme Court are enabling propaganda and outright lies to flourish.
Thank you for as always, for taking your reasoned and principled position, and in this case showing the United States has a deep and profound history of leadership success in espousing its core principles of freedom for all.
Ironically those principles include - as they must - the freedom for leaders of major media outlets to choose as well. This week we’ve seen two major media outlets choose indifference by avoiding the responsible opportunity to stand tall for democracy and endorsing what a third major media outlet has called the “only patriotic choice” for POTUS.
In its place they’ve demonstrated cowardly and slavish self interest when they could have stood as tall as the service men whose lives brought them today’s freedoms. Shameful.
Fascinating that that Richardson found this rather obscure US Govt publication, which correctly shows that fascism is not an ideology but an effort to grab power based on fear and hatred of other people, races, religions, or even gender. This is similar to Professor Paxton" later and more academic analysis of the appeal of fascism. But even he, recently and reluctantly agreed that Trump and the MAGA cult appeals to the same impulses of fear and hatred of others with the same goal of achieving personal power.
You would have thought WWII inoculated America against the fascism, but here we are. When Trump talks about the enemy within he’s describing himself an his MAGA movement. The American people are like the proverbial frogs in the saucepan of water, and the water is half way to boiling. We still have a chance to leap free of the danger. Will we be lulled into complacency by the skillful BS? Highly recommend that anyone curious to see how Fascism works read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.
The word "sobering" doesn't do justice to your written words. The parallels between Trump and Hitler are certainly here, the only difference is the age of each man at their time of power and 91 years between the first rise of fascism and now. Now where is that bunker that changes this outcome? Oh yeah, it's the voting booth, now let's get to work. We have a democracy to save.
The new swastika is the blue TH sign. The German people bought theirs, with the help from American policies. I'm afraid that our fascist undercurrent will surface.
We need to either drop theses pamphlets from the sky to Americans or get our media to do their job to distribute vital information thru social media rather than just accept money for political campaign ads…
Thank you Professor tor reminding us what fascism is, and how it starts, and its dangers. Now, let's step forward and realize it is easier to communicate the danger by saying "Trump will be America's Hitler" and "MAGAs will be Trump's Nazis" than it is to say "Trump is fascist to the core." Americans are hard-wired to hate Hitler (think of all the WWII movies we have seen where Hitler's Nazis are the 100% BAD guys).
The only management style that Trump has ever known was his personal corporation where EVERYONE worked for Trump and everyone did what he commended regardless of legality or morality, and where he could fire anyone whose loyalty to him wavered. That's where Trump learned how to be the Führer.
His German grandfather and father, only valued money, and his father demanded that Trump be a WINNER not a LOSER, so Trump's two goals are
A. to get other people's money, by either convince (by fraud or by over-promising) [recall Trump steaks, Trump's golden sneakers, Trump's Bible (made in China), and Trump's $100,000 watch), and
B. to stay out of jail. Trump believes he can buy, intimidate, or litigate his way out of any problem.
Note: Trump's father died after 7 years of Alzheimer's Disease, so Trump has a predisposition to have Alzheimer's which is hereditary. Trump's senility is increasingly obvious, and syncophant J.D.Vance knows Trump won't serve out the full 4-year term.
I fail to understand why it is necessary to explain what fascism is, especially to your readers. The major issue here is the role of money, big money, in the function of democracy.
Historians will conclude that our Democracy was done in by one Joe Biden with the idiots on the Democratic National Committee. The plan has been knowable for at least a couple of years; longer for the prescient. He/ they could still do something even now, but will not.
I have never commented on a specific Letter but today's I feel is really important. How do we get the word out to our Republican friends? This is really important during these divided times.
In college, more than 50 years ago, I took a course abot totalitarianism from a man who had been rescued from Theresienstadt (Terezin) by the Red Army. I recall a number of things he said, one of which was that one of Mussolini’s myrmidons had proclaimed that, “Fascism is too important for ideology.” It made no more sense then than it does now.
This article and the so many good comments are very clear statements as to the risks that we face. As it is Sunday, I would like to add Chapter 7 verses 15-20 of the Book of Matthew for them to reflect on:
15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Why do some Americans prefer Fascism over democracy? Especially if democracy endangers their personal wealth today or in the future. Just about every WWII era GI knew more about fascism than most Republicans currently in the government. But these Republicans know a lot about the accumulation of wealth and power.
You are a fascist. You can continue to spew hatred and racism because that is what fascists do. The next time someone asks what party you are with say "I am a fascist" and I mean to destroy your Democracy.
Trump has been calling Harris a fascist, a communist, a Marxist, and a socialist for weeks now. He has also used those words to describe her supporters (and Pres. Biden's supporters earlier). Clearly he doesn't really understand what those terms mean because he uses them interchangeably.
So now General Kelly suggests that Trump is in fact a fascist and we're suddenly not allowed to use the term without taking criticism for it. But Trump can continue doing it. At least Kelly appears to have some idea what the term means.
I’d like to call attention to HCR’s penultimate paragraph, which points out that to avoid fascism we must make democracy work for the people. We haven’t been doing that since Reagan’s time. This has largely been driven by Republican’s infatuation with so-called “trickle down economics”, which in truth should be called “flow up economics”. But Democrats’ support for neo-liberal policies and its capture by wealthy donors is also to blame.
Many of our people are struggling day to day to make ends meet. They’re constantly exploited by big corporations, both as customers and as employees. People in this situation are rightfully angry and susceptible to fascist propaganda and hate. Once we get past the Trump threat, we urgently need to tackle these underlying problems. Kamala is certainly proposing some actions that will help directly, but we also need to tackle the systemic problems that have gotten us to this place.
Regarding the economy, it is indeed very strong in the aggregate. People in around the top 25% of income are doing extremely well. But there are many people who are struggling to feed and educate their kids and who see little prospect for improvement. For the first time in generations, many of today's young adults will not do better economically than their parents. I've written about this as well, at
Thank you, Dr. Richardson. That 1945 pamphlet sounds like something that perfectly describes TODAY. Thanks again for such amazingly informative TRUE stories. If only we will listen…….You (along with other brave souls) have “met the moment” in this nightmare “time of testing” for America. I pray enough of us will understand where we are…………seeing the willful surrender of common sense by otherwise normal people has been shocking…….Between Fox News, social media and now a demagogue with no shame and no moral core, we are in a frighteningly perilous time. Thank you again.
Fascism thrives on indifference and ignorance. Boy, is that true. Speaking with my neighbors and friends, who support the Beast, is a way to come directly face to face with this fact. A response to my clearly stating reality? "That's fake news". And "LOL, I'm voting for Tom Brady. They both stink." Classic evasion and an attempt to deflect and save face. They simply cannot, will not, face the facts squarely - the brainwashing and cognitive dissonance is too strong for them. And so we're left with the classic "Arguing with a brick wall".
The threat isn't Trump, per se, it's the magnitude of his following. There are two types. First, are political conservatives that have and will always be Republicans no matter what. Winning matters, but they still think. They are generally troubled by Trump, just not enough. The second group are the ones with nothing to lose. They are the drifters who don't see life as having much to offer. Politics is just cheap entertainment and violence heightens the thrill. They have a low opinion of themselves and accept affiliation with any group that will accept them. The opportunity to defeat Trump and the future of our country lies with the first group. We need to know the difference.
THE TITLE OR LABELING OF FACISCM IS NOT REALLY UNFERSTOOD BY HALF OF AMERICA YET IF DONALD GETS IN, THEY WILL.
““Fascism thrives on indifference and ignorance,” it warned. Freedom requires “being alert and on guard against the infringement not only of our own freedom but the freedom of every American. If we permit discrimination, prejudice, or hate to rob anyone of his democratic rights, our own freedom and all democracy is threatened.” “
HCR
The world will see a similar gathering of fascism today at the Madison Square Garden in New York City. They will start to gather early afternoon and go we’ll into the night with the Fuhrer taking the stage last. He will speak fear, he will have supporters hoping for a pardon, like Mayor Adams, he will speak monotone for at least an hour about the same topics, insulting many.
FACISM
The real question will be if he instructs the bored audience to march into the streets with hate. Like he did on Jan. 6th.
This will not be a powerful speech like Hitler provided with massive gatherings. Crowds believed to be a million at times.
This one will be 30k, with most leaving early to catch trains and buses on a work night.
Just like the one on February 20th, 1939, it will not amount to anything.
Even as Heather and Tim Snyder mark the Fascist Characteristics of the Republicans growing stronger as the election nears I am struck by the blatant decisions by major News Papers to refuse to support the anti-fascist Kamala Harris.
Actually the decision to support Trump is by billionaire and millionaire personalities including the Koch folk, Elan Musk and Peter Thieles to usher in a the Spector of an Oligarchy of wealth on the basis of Fascistic Rule.
We are definitely on the cusp of these terrible possible futures.
This is an outstanding historical document......it should not have been kept hidden for so long, but each July 4 it should be republished in its original format---for the troops who fought to save the democracy that now falters. And it should be shared and read at school assemblies at the start and end of each year.
It would be very cool to learn who wrote that and did they hold a government job 10 years later under Ike and the House let’s not blame Joe in the Senate for the general purge.
Are we doomed? Will the hated institutions hold? Will the polls and the count be protected? Are things so bad that half the country wants a fascist? Do that many Americans not know the difference between democracy and fascism? Has the memory of the price the world paid to defeat fascism been forgotten?
I am profoundly appreciative of your work Professor Richardson – thank you.
It’s all coming into view this week isn’t it – the fascist playbook? Polls so close that no matter whether Harris wins by a small or large margin the GOP will cry foul ; local election boards that are corrupted ; a whole range of legal teams the GOP has lined up to challenge the election’s legality ; a stacked Supreme Court ; threats of violence against election officials ; the odious Elon Musk putting his thumb heavily on the scale ; the collusion with Putin and the compromising of our national security as Trump and Musk connive with a murderous dictator ; the desire of that same dictator for revenge, which is nothing less than the destruction of the US.
What will the US do without access to health care for women ? What will it do once the Right imposes its perverse view of history and education on our schools and universities, when the Florida model of repression goes national ? What will families do with no social security ? What misery will be visited on them when tarifs cause untold stress on already tight household budgets ? What environmental damage will come from a know-nothing attitude towards climate change, and the gutting if not outright elimination of NOAA and the early warning system for hurricanes ?
What will happen if they succeed in building their camps, and deport millions ? How will they try to hide the likely humanitarian catastrophe that will ensue ? What will happen to basic rights when police departments are further militarized and given a green light to arbitrarily treat citizens as they please ? What will happen as a lawless president pardons January 6th rioters ? Will he also pardon militia members who intimidate or even shoot peaceful protesters ? How long will people endure armed repression coupled with economic misery, before they themselves organize against it ?
What will the economy look like as the US exits NATO and leaves Europe to Putin ? What will happen to the US as the EU, an entity that helps sustain a robust US economy, is plunged into war as Putin gobbles up the Ukraine, the Baltics, and makes a play for Poland ? What will the nuclear powers of France and Britain do as remaining fellow NATO members are invaded ?
But the most important questions I have are more philosophical and humanistic : How can so many well-educated people be so cruel and reckless as to entrust these monsters – a Trump, a Musk, and at this late date, a Putin – with their futures ? How can the historic memory of Boomers be so short and insouciant as to forget the lessons of the 1930s and 1940s ? How can people be filled with such blind hate that they will die on the hill of a Trump, rather than on the hill that will expand rights, economic opportunity, and keep the planet livable ?
If you think this is hyperventilating, that is merely because I have taught about this sort of thing my entire life. Authoritarians will lie about everything – their racism, their sexism are based on lies, their patriotism and their piety utterly false. But the cruelty they tell you they intend to inflict ? That is almost always the only truth they tell.
Steve, you stated the case for voting for democracy very well. Even if democracy wins this election, the autocrats will still be there. We can only hope that after democracy wins, enough people will understand how important democracy is. Hatred will always be around but we must learn how to make people understand differences.
I found a website for [ H. RES. 1386 ] that puts our name on a petition to Mike Johnson to stand against the dangerous agenda regarding the policies of Project 2025.
I forgot about H.RES.1386 from some August notes within an older Jessica's CHOP WOOD, CARRY WATER Substack - and I put my name on the petition - if you want, here's the link:
https://www.mikejohnson2025.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Here is where I vetted H.RES.1386:
Congress.gov
https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-resolution/1386/text
Johnson is a fascist. Fascists don’t give a damn about petitions nor any other form of advice from the people about what’s best for the country. The only hope is to outvote them, make it stick, make laws that curtail their operations (especially voter suppression and violations of civil rights), and vigorously enforce those laws. We can remove these fascists from power, but it will take a lot of persistent effort for a long time.
Johnson isn't a mere fascist, he's a Christofascist. I won't add my name to any petition for two reasons:
- It's a waste of time. Members of Congress only listen to their constituents and even then not always. It was beyond disheartening to see 85 boxes of petitions addressed to Speaker Paul Ryan with hundreds of thousands of signatures be rejected by his office; imagine the effort, the paper, the shipping costs to get those petitions to DC only to have them summarily dismissed.
- If Trump is elected and Project 2025 is implemented, I don't want to give them a reason to send me to the hooscow. Yes, that's extreme but we can't fool ourselves into believing that all will be normal, that maximum caution isn't required.
Christofascist, very apt phrase to describe Johnson, and hardly just him. Extremist Evangelicals are the driving centre of those praying endlessly for the Lord to end "secular tyranny", agents of Satan, in the USA. They have been dreaming of this for years now. The downfall of RvW has simply spurred them on, and an appetite for more to come is much of their minds.
I am a Catholic Christian, and don’t find anything remotely Christian about them. They simply want to misuse Jesus’s name as an excuse for a power grab.
The 1943 description of the fascism we were fighting is a perfect description of Trump and his MAGA followers. I don't know why that is so hard for so many Americans to understand!
Simple. Nearly half of all Americans want what Trump is offering.
And some of them don't believe it -- they consider everything they hear from non-Trump sources to be lies, and they've have been told that it's Biden and Dems who are the fascists. That's what we're up against. I have MAGA family members. They believe Trump is being persecuted, that there has been a 'plot' against him all along. It's just heartbreaking.
We have to keep trying and keeping hoping. No other choice.
I am hoping…
According to polls, Andy. Most normal people do not answer phone calls or texts from people they don’t know. Years ago I answered a poll which turned out to be a money making scam. So the result is polls of 1000 people or less extrapolate for what millions believe. The media used to say how many were polled and they don’t anymore.
And consider the questions— do you think the country is going in the wrong direction? Hell yes, I would answer because a degenerate crazy former president is running to be re- elected and has the Supreme Court supporting him. 🎃🤡💩🤮🤬💔
I’m reading Dr Fauci’s book ON CALL. start with the recent part first. The swill from tfg’s fascist mouth makes us forget facts—4,000 people a day were dying from COVID when Biden took office. When MAGats say what has Biden done for me, there it is. Donnie mismanaged it and didn’t care. Made masks political.
Indeed they do, Andy.
Andy, it does seem that you are right. Both of my parents participated in WW2 and I grew up hearing all about it. Now, in 2024, WW2 is ancient history to a majority of Americans who have thought very little about it.
As Sinclair Lewis put it: "It Can't Happen Here." I read that after the 2016 election and it seemed beyond imagining. But it seems a bit more prescient now that we have actual Nazis clawing at the doors of the federal government.
It’s hard for many Americans to understand, David Clark, because they can’t get past their top political priority, which is electing people to office who promise to preserve the systemic advantages of white Americans.
Too many of them do not know — they are the ones fooled by the claims of “communism” and the fear mongering. It’s so hard to get the clarity out there thaat is needed.
Hoping, people. I keep hoping!!!
It's quite fashionable among democrats right now to compare Trump to Hitler (always a last-ditch, losing argument in any political discussion) and inaccurately call him a Fascist. The true definition of Fascism is government control of private business, in other words, public-private partnership. Democrats calling Trump Fascist is projection. The democrats are the ones who have partnered up with big business and the war machine to censor Americans, in direct violation of their constitutional rights to free speech, and in contradiction to their traditional values. Our founding fathers told us that free speech was the cornerstone of democracy and the Democratic party is the one trying to eliminate it. This is how all dictatorships begin.
I've voted Democrat all my life, but the Dems have changed for the worse and I will not support them again until they change back.
David, you're confused about the difference between Republican fascism and the soft "socialism" of the Democrats ("socialism" like organized and regulated mail delivery, the military in all forms, transportation and road repair, social security created by the life-long input of hundreds of thousands of working people who couldn't afford retirement funds). You've sipped too much of their "free" Koolaide. Government oversight (soft socialism) came into play under Roosevelt to try to create protected space for people working for a living on farms, in hospitals, etc. Protection from the rapaciousness and gluttony of the wealthy. Personally, I believe very wealthy people who insist on piling up more wealth are mentally ill. Is there nothing more important in life than the Almighty Dollar? The Dems are trying to maintain that protection, which has definitely been eroded by the millionaire+ interests who are pretty much insane, IMHO. And very dangerous to the rest of us whom they regard as their prey and fodder from whom to wrest their exorbitant profits.
Yes, they used to try to do that. But in the past several years they have enabled the rapacious gluttony of the Bill Gates', Blackrocks and Pfizer's of the world by labeling anything remotely critical of their big pharma, big Ag, big military agenda as 'misinformation' and proceeding to force social media to eliminate the voices of those who are bold enough to call out the truth and campaign against those wealthy interests you're talking about. That's not democratic, or socially democratic. It's blatant dictatorship. I'm for social democracy, under the protection of our constitution. The dems have left the constitution behind in the dust. It's now the Republicans who are our best hope of fighting against Oligarchy, mostly because they've welcomed Robert F. Kennedy into their fold.
David, you couldn't be more wrong if you tried.
Fascism is a FAR-RIGHT, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy. Opposed to anarchism, democracy, pluralism, egalitarianism, liberalism, socialism, and Marxism, fascism is placed on the far right-wing within the traditional left–right spectrum. (h/t Wikipedia).
It's not the Democrats who have written a 900-page document that details how they will turn the US into an autocracy that will destroy the public education system and replace it with schools that will look more and more like the dreaded madrasas, disable the federal agencies that protect the public from bad medicines, bad food, bad investments, that will dismantle NOAA, defund FEMA, and, ultimately, ban all abortions, no exceptions. Even just a summary of their game plan should be enough to make you understand how dangerous would be a Trump second term. Which is to say that not voting or voting third party is a vote for Trump and the implementation this evil scheme.
What I Learned When I Read 887 Pages of Project 2025 by Carlos Lozada: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/29/opinion/project-2025-trump-administration.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Z00.KRo_.N-RzukcU6Z0W&smid=url-share
MisTBlu, thanks for your considered opinion. I grew up on just such thinking but have changed my mind.
I don't believe any more that the federal agencies are protecting us, nor that they're even trying. They are captured by Big Industry and the Military Industrial Complex, which in turn are owned by uber-wealthy families who have been jockeying to control world politics and carry out their eugenicist ideology for several generations. I don't trust the NY Times, given it's history in promoting propaganda supporting the agenda of these elites.
https://www.thegrayladywinked.com/
The other news organizations are by and large as corrupt as the times, being owned by the same people that own Big Industry. Are you hearing about all these dire eventualities from the legacy media? Each side vilifies and distorts the intentions of the other. The Dems lie as often and as egregiously as the Republicans.
If the dems cared at all about any of this they would have welcomed Robert F. Kennedy Jr with open arms. He has the will and the knowledge to stop the out-of-control corporate capture that has obliterated our democracy. But instead, they have coerced social media to censor Kennedy and anybody else who offers discussion that throws doubt on this agenda. Their behavior is unconstitutional. They deserve to lose for this alone. They are captured as well.
Project 2025 seems pretty benign to me - not exactly everything I'd like to see, but certainly not disastrous. The devil is quite possibly in the details. But the first priority is to reclaim the free-speech that the dems, etc. have tried to take away, and spread the knowledge of how our government has turned into the political arm of international corporate power. Without free speech, you wouldn't even be able to criticize Project 2025 without having your bank account shut down. They could say you were spreading misinformation. Is that the country you want to live in?
I stand with Robert F. Kennedy because he has immense personal integrity and clear, workable ideas for making these changes. Trump has enlisted Kennedy to do these things and Kennedy trusts Trump. I never thought I'd be here, but here I am.
Slow down a little. Consider reading Mein Kamph (The Struggle-1925) in the original 557 pages. -a hard difficult read with poor prose and lots of wandering but the purpose was to overthrow the German Republic. Hitler's fascist policies aimed to take over all forms of industry & commerce while promoting nationalism allowing no dissent .On this platform Hitler embraced racism to pit groups against each other. We know that led to: WW11.
Now think about the Republican Party embracing Project 2025 (Heritage Foundation). The end of American Democracy as we know it?
The first thing any aspiring dictator does, is to control the media and limit the ability of the opposition to express their views. I see the Democrats doing this, not the Republicans. The same entities who have taken over the democratic party in our country have already taken over all forms of industry & commerce. It's been happening for decades already.
Oh please . . . fergawdsake . . .
Steve, dismissal is not an argument.
"Oh please . . .?" That's the best you can do, Steve? Are you feeling uncomfortable about your indulgence of this rotten system with which we live that profits some at the expense of most others?
"Gawd," sadly, has been deleted from the system, so bring Gawd back into it, by all means.
When a MAGA can say Jesus is wrong, than it's full steam ahead with hatred and divisiveness.
I suspect there is a significant anti-abortion Catholic constituency, to wit Amy Coney Barrett. Much of Christianity has moved into a more liberal outlook. But just read the original fanaticism of the New Testament, this is what Evangelicals, Baptists draw their basic inspiration from. A world ruled by Satan, all the other religions are ruled by demons or make believe, ONLY the good followers of Jesus have it right, and the true followers are assaulted from within by heretics, and the Second Coming of Jesus and judgement are right on the horizon. Liberally minded Christians tone all this down, often treating the virgin birth for example as purely legendary in nature. Most seminaries, except for the fundamentalists, pretty much have taught it this way for some time now.
Frank, I don't know to what seminaries you are referring when you use that too often used word, "most." Speaking as one who has graduated from one such seminary, the word "some" would be far more accurate. The seminary I attended and many more whose students I discuss this stuff with, taught people to read the words of the New Testament critically, and in historical context---not just because they are more "liberally minded." It's critical examination and study--not just "liberalism." The Roman Catholic Church would have followers believe its edicts are equal to scripture as part of its tradition. The Virgin Birth isn't just legendary. The idea performs a serious function in the theology of the Church and so has power of its own.
In Canada denominations such as the United Church, the largest Protestant, are considered liberal in nature, downplaying and/or denying the the miraculous in the NT. I've met more than one church member who literally disbelieve in things such as the virgin birth, treating it as purely legendary, an education head in a local church in the early 90s who treated it in the same way. Better, here's Wiki on the topic of liberal Christianity in general. https://www.wikiwand.com/en/articles/Liberal_Christianity
My source for "most" would be Bart Ehrman, he's put things that way for a couple generations now, his Introduction to the New Testament is based on a textbook in use at Chapel Hill, NC theology dept for about a quarter century now. If you think he's wrong, without stats and research I won't argue the point. I believe the Atlantic School of Theology in Nova Scotia, Canada takes this approach, studying the Bible using "critical" methods, putting theology in a historical context, but also leaving various denominations a place for their own interpretations. Thanks for the notes on how the RCC still deals with the story of virgin birth and her divine status in the Catholic tradition.
Catholics (including, I’m sure, you, Kathy Hughes) are, on the average, far better Christians than white evangelicals. Ironically, however, even the average Catholic falls shorter of living up to Christian ideals than the average atheist.
Alleluia!
Yes, and he smirks all the time. He was just here in Oregon to campaign for the local R in House District 5 who has an excellent opponent. Then he went across the Columbia to fundraise and campaign for angry Joe Kent, who is fascist to the core, and trying to unseat the incumbent D female who is an auto mechanic and hardly far left.
This is long. It is the editorial in today's edition of the Orland Sentinel. Christofascism is alive, well and flourishing in America.
ORLANDO SENTINEL EDITORIAL
How would Jesus vote?
Today, the weight of the pending election is on the minds of many across Central Florida— including those who are sitting in church pews or temples, listening to faith leaders exhorting them (subtly or not so much) to cast their ballots one way or another.
In a perfect — or even functional — society, that sermonizing would prompt an examination of how candidates’ conduct and viewpoints align with the core tenets of each voter’s faith. But for a growing number of Americans, this guidance will offer comfort and support that it’s OK to vote for people whose morals might appear questionable to the unenlightened. That it’s a bad idea to question leaders who exploit their voter-given power to marginalize and scapegoat groups of people as general threats to their own existence, and to paint those who disagree as villainous liars.
That it’s acceptable to ignore some of the great principles espoused by the world’s religious traditions: To comfort the afflicted, to welcome the stranger, to seek justice, to revere the truth. This is Christian nationalism at work — in Florida, and across the nation. And there is very little that is Christlike about it. Rather, this is the cancer our forefathers sought to prevent when they created the fundamental firewalls between government and religion — the walls that many of today’s leaders are seeking to tear down.
Know them by their works
Not many politicians openly proclaim themselves to be Christian nationalists, but they aren’t hard to spot. Gov. Ron DeSantis is a prime example. He often explains his actions (particularly those that misappropriate funding, incorporate dishonesty or gather power to himself that outstrips the boundaries of his role) by lashing out at some group that has “forced” him into extraordinary action. Consider his recent veto of the state’s entire cultural arts 10/27/24, 1:01 PM Orlando Sentinel https://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=7f2e94da-42a6-42b3-91be-f4782530a2d0&edid=1046e43e-d6… 1/5 grant program — a move that saved taxpayers a relatively paltry $32 million, but one that has devastated community arts programs including small theaters, visual-arts spaces and music programs. These programs brought joy to many and did no harm; some of them will not survive the loss of funding they depended on.
Magnifying his cruelty, DeSantis and like-minded people have repeatedly lied about asylum seekers, branding them as “illegals” who want to sell fentanyl to high-schoolers, rape housewives and steal jobs from deserving Americans. The only presidential debate this year featured the same callous dishonesty, when former president Donald Trump slandered Haitian immigrants as pet abducting dog-eaters. The president and his debate-prep team almost certainly knew they were repeating social-media rumors that had already been proven false. In each of these cases, what side do you think Jesus would have taken? Or Solomon, Mohammed, Buddha? If you need a reference, check out Leviticus 19:34: The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
The truly sad thing is that, even as we write this, we can think of so many other examples where DeSantis, Trump or legislative candidates demonized vulnerable people, usually as a distraction to draw voters’ attention away from their own failures to fix property insurance, repair crumbling infrastructure and help Florida’s increasingly desperate working class. Here’s just one more: The infamous 2023 hearing of the state House Education Committee, where Rep. Webster Barnaby, R-Deltona, listened to transgender adults and youth plead for protection against invasion into their intimate lives, then responded: “The Lord rebuke you, Satan, and all of your demons and all of 10/27/24, 1:01 PM Orlando Sentinel https://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=7f2e94da-42a6-42b3-91be-f4782530a2d0&edid=1046e43e-d6… 2/5 your imps will come and parade before us. That’s right — I called you demons and imps.”
Barnaby is on the ballot Nov. 5, facing Rosemarie Latham, a nurse-practitioner who wants to expand health care to low-income workers. May his cruel pride go before a fall. Praying to false gods In a recent edition of the NPR talk show 1A, a panel of experts explored the psychology of Christian nationalism and why so many Americans are seduced into believing that these actions are godly, or even acceptable in a polite society — and how they can revere a creature like Trump, the serial adulterer with a miles-long record of cheating his business partners, exploiting public resources and spewing lies about political rivals.
And that was before he became president. Since then, fact-checking organizations have documented thousands of outright lies — while Trump cozied up to some of the world’s cruelest and most oppressive regimes and stood by while a mob broke into the U.S. Capitol in pursuit of his attempt to steal the 2020 election. None of it seems to matter to the subset of voters who see Trump as their golden idol — capable of no wrong. Others vote for him because they don’t care about the lies, and believe he’ll be better for their bottom line. Even rational Republicans, who are repulsed by his arrogance and greed, fear to speak up against him. How can this be? As described by the panelists, it’s definitely not by accident. In fact, the current Christian nationalist movement appears to be the end game of a “deeply networked organizational infrastructure” that’s been working for years to dismantle critical checks and balances — including the much vaunted separation of church and state, but also reaching to mechanisms intended to keep power distributed and thus, resistant to abuse.
In Florida, DeSantis has emasculated the state Legislature and systematically undermined the independence of the court system. Not to sound too conspiratorial, but it’s all part of the plan. Powerful, ultra-conservative ministers are definitely playing their role, lacing their sermons with partisan themes and using political stunts as fundraising props. Groups like the pro-book-banning Moms for Liberty clutch cloaks of virtue while they work to destabilize Americans’ perception of what is true and acceptable in society. A close look at the books they’ve targeted include many that had no whiff of sexual or sinful content. Instead, these stories worked to build empathy and understanding of people who were from other cultures, or related the historic struggle for human equality and dignity. 10/27/24, 1:01 PM Orlando Sentinel https://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=7f2e94da-42a6-42b3-91be-f4782530a2d0&edid=1046e43e-d6… 3/5 Removing those books, and rejecting other efforts to foster empathy, makes it easier to vilify groups of people who have few defenses. They are the perfect targets — and having enemies is essential in the Christian Nationalist playbook. “One aspect of movement that’s become much more salient in the last decade or so is the idea of spiritual warfare. This idea that God and Satan are really active and directly involved in American political campaigns, and God has chosen to anoint one candidate.
So within this mindset, it’s important to understand they see Trump not so much as a politician. They don’t look at his personal history, but they see him as an anointed one sent from on high,” Katherine Stewart, who recently wrote a book about the movement, told 1A. To question Trump is to question God. That’s the message. It’s so wrong, but so powerful. What voice will you follow? So how do Christians and other people who are sincere in the core tenets of their faith fight back against this co-opting of religion? Many local churches are already doing this work. There are pastors in this community who speak compellingly of Christ’s imperatives toward kindness, respect and humility. Their congregations work to lift up marginalized people, heal the sick, care for those in need. They pray for justice, and for truth. They should do more, remembering that Jesus himself was not content just to preach and hope. He was a fiery voice challenging the power structure — a dangerous voice, in the end, but one that has echoed through millennia.
We’ll close with something the Rev. Jim Wallis, director of the Center on Faith and Justice at Georgetown University, who has been rebuking the ultraconservative high-jacking of faith for decades: “Jesus said, you’ll know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Now as I dig into that text in times like this, it tells me that the opposite of truth isn’t just lies, it’s captivity. It’s captivity. And a whole lot of people have become captive to these lies.” As they consider their choices in this election, we urge readers of faith to look past the political alliances that have been forged between the powerful elite of this nation and the Philistines who offer to cloak greed and division in Godly vestments. Look to the core works of your faith: The Torah. The Koran. The Bible. And pray. This nation has never needed it more. 10/27/24, 1:01 PM Orlando Sentinel https://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=7f2e94da-42a6-42b3-91be-f4782530a2d0&edid=1046e43e-d6… 4/5
Thank you. Very powerful. Fingers crossed that it doesn't fall on eyes deadened to truth.
They tend to listen even more to the lobbyists who give them checks, thanks to Citizens United.
Citizens United will go down in history as this century's Dred Scott.
The first half of this shameful Court's Dred Scott, the second being Dobbs.
Roberts started by gutting the Voting Rights Act. That led to renewed and more effective voter suppression in red states.
But at least those decisions have pleased the Christian Nationalist amongst us and the majority of the SCOTUS
At MOST. And only the fascists among us, some of whom are also Xtian Nationalists.
Well.... yes. There is that. Tucker Carlson'd acolytes living the dream.
Years ago, someone in an online discussion group used the term, "christofascist." I was impressed by how perfectly it described members of my family and people I grew up with, so I began using it from then on.
Unlike mainline Protestantism, which focuses on loving God and neighbor, Evangelicalism is animated by fear. Evangelicals awaken every morning, overcome with a thousand different fears: fear of Satan, fear of committing a sin, fear of an angry God, fear of being condemned to hell, fear of criticism by fellow believers, fear of people who do not believe as they do, worship as they do, love as they do and live as they do. In humans, uncontrolled fear is transformed into hate. This makes evangelicals the ideal targets for fascism.
The smarter fascists who direct Trump have used him to attract and dominate evangelicals, bringing them to heel in service to the fascist drive for power and control.
Evangelicals, fearing secularism, eschew public education. Thus, they are unable to think critically, or sort fact from fiction. In fact, they have abetted the campaign to discredit and defund public education in favor of "Christian" and charter schools.
Sinclair Lewis did NOT write "When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." But whoever first wrote this aphorism was right.
No, he didn't, but he wrote plenty of things that suggest he would have been OK with it. For instance, from IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE (which I want to reread, but not till after the election): "But he saw too that in America the struggle was befogged by the fact that the worst fascists were they who disowned the word ‘fascism’ and preached enslavement to capitalism under the style of constitutional and traditional Native American liberty."
Yeah! You're right. Glad it's happening in your country, not mine! But at least you're prepared to be the canary in the coal-mine for the rest of the English-speaking world. And Rupert; he's now your problem.
If, heaven forbid, Trump gets back in and they don’t come after me, I’ll be embarrassed and angry.
I am still upset I was not on Nixon's list. Hum...same party but on steroids.
Jon, Steve, it could get serious. Trump's followers are filled with hate and aching for revenge. Be careful.
While there will be unhappy losers, I expect something more like the failure of the supposed fear inspiring Nazi Werewolf plans. Seems they chose to slink away and not impale themselves on their swords after losing the war.
Trump followers would be well advised to follow something more like the Werewolf actual lack of actions and get on with the rest of their lives.
See https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/nazi-werewolves-who-terrorized-allied-soldiers-end-wwii-180970522/
ChristoFascist! Handmaids, whose male preachers are screeching about abortion. Fear, hate, the other…and at the core is sexism and hate for women! This has been the core power struggle for a long time! Well before Rome…and their weird version of Jesus, who was clearly married with children..
Johnson is also a hypocrite hiding his lust for power and control behind his "religious righteousness," MisTBlu. Let's just hope there are enough women who don't want anyone to boss us around to get rid of these theocratic punks.
I completely agree. I stopped adding my name to any political request or poll. Those that do are putting a bullseye on themselves. Win, lose or draw this election is a losing proposition for all involved.
No. That's what "they" want--to make you afraid to stand up for what you believe. There are things to fear that are worse than death.
Stated somewhere in the Harry Potter series by Professor Dumbledore. The villain of the series split his soul by murdering, to avoid death, and he did it many times.
Agreed, MisTBlu. Just use your name to VOTE BLUE.
So, you put yourself on record as a coward, than?
I prefer to control where and how my personally identifiable information is used. At my age and in my circumstances it's the prudent thing to do.
Wow! I knew that Trump and his cronies-in-crime were up to no good, but as I was reading Heather's letter today, it became crystal clear. Everything she quoted went right to the cold heart of Donald Trump.
Two statements stood out to me as describ8ng MAGA. Women are only useful for "children, kitchen, and the church." MAGA's sentiments exactly.
The bull's eye truth of Trump's whole movement is this quote- "Getting men to hate rather than to think."
Pam, I opened the US Army link Heather provided, and this part jumped out at me when reading page 1: "They make their own rules and change them when they choose. If you don't like it, it's "T.S." ".
I think it's pretty easy to deduce what "T.S." stands for! 😁
Yes. Trump Stinks.☺️
… imagine this individual as POTUS: JD “keep em barefoot and pregnant” Vance!?!?!
If trump becomes president, every day that passes, Vance will be a day closer to be president himself due death or greater incapacitated of the former....
I think there is a real plan behind this--formulated by Thiel and Musk. If tffg wins, let him have the throne for a while, but soon use the 25th Amendment to get rid of him. Then Thiel and Musk and the rest of the oligarchs have a clear field.
Bingo.
Or Vance's use of the 25th amendment.
Sadly true!!!
Please read today's Jennifer Rubin's opinion piece about Vance. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/28/trump-vance-election/?fbclid=IwY2xjawGMp49leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHR-JU8SqXve5dEiB_OYf6P-_wIRSLgFYG20DdXThTtFmmoiEk-LibYMlKw_aem_8Rg42i9XDsdbgsKTsZyhbQ
Yes, Pam, that stood out to me as well. I think, hope, as a nation, we are past this thinking and rhetoric. Most of us anyway.
I appreciate you not using the word "fascist" even though clearly this is a part of that definition. I tire of our use of this word (frequently) as it mirrors the simplistic and degrading tone of DT and I hope we are better than that. Still I realize we must give voice to the truth. Truth to power.
He's even more dangerous than a fascist, he's a religious zealot. And a misogynist.
He shares an app with his son to hold each other "accountable" for their porn habits.
How disgusting this man is.
I do not think he is a religious zealot - he is not religious. He knows how to manipulate and make relgious zealots support what he wants.
When has he ever gone to church? Really?!
Blue to stop a coup means you, LOTS of yous -VOTING BLUE💙 - and hold your representatives to guard the coop against further coups. Enough is enough.
Agreed, Rex.
Thank you, Kathleen, for this information. I hadn’t known about this petition. I’ve just signed it. I’m going to post the site on Facebook.
Sorry to break the news—on-line petitions are worthless.
Write your congressional rep—use a relative’s address if necessary to write to a Republican one. Or call their local and Washington offices.
Signed. Thank you for sharing.
Many thanks
Wow! Thank you Kathleen B Parker!
Signed. Thank you for doing the research and providing the link
Don’t be naive that stuff has no importance unless you can plunk down 5 million on his next campaign.
They're anarchists. This is click-bait fascism.
Everything Heather said is correct. I am just as concerned why the people will blindly follow that is clearly designed to harm them. Yet perhaps they’ve already been harmed.
Sometime in 1993 or 1994, Bill Clinton signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement. On that day, I paused and wondered how great this would affect American workers; workers in manufacturing who had little formal education. A few years later in my travels as an art dealer driving across the country, I drove to Seattle and stopped in Richmond, Indiana to stay at an Airbnb. The Victorian house was as ornate as the Mark Twain house in my hometown of Hartford, CT. I paid about $50 for the night to stay in the mini mansion . I asked the owner at breakfast if he minded telling me what the value of the house was. He reported around $125,000. I gasped. He then told me how that rust belt area had become filled with deserted plants and had shut down to set up off-shore. Workers no longer had those solid middle income factory jobs. A few decades later, his wife ran for president and in her run, called those MAGA supporters of Trump “The Deplorables,” mostly white, uneducated, now lower income the same group that lost their solid middle incomes under Bill Clinton. That group formed the bases of Trump’s base.
When Joe Biden refused to stem the tide of hundreds of thousands rushing the border, it became a political issue. It’s no wonder that this group is so hardened against a political party that ruined them and will not listen to reason. They have been thoroughly abandoned and insulted by the party that once supported them and their once good paying jobs.
This is the explanation to my fellow hard-headed dense democrats that just don’t understand why a large segment of the population will support a facist-like movement that does not have their interests at heart. It’s a bit confounding isn’t it — both sides, one side being the wronged and the other side being unable to grasp what the hell has happened. Go ahead ladies and gentlemen, have at me. I tell the truth.
I think the immigration problem is overplayed, legal and otherwise, they commit fewer crimes than average Americans, play a vital role in esp the agricultural sector, doing jobs most Americans refuse to do. Studies show they provide a net economic gain, pay taxes, and so on. So Americans scream they're stealing jobs when in fact USA is in virtual full employment. Murdering criminal millions, give us a break! The immigration system does need fixing, simply staunching the inflow of mainly economic migrants with walls et al won't solve the problem. USA needs to figure out better how to meet its own employment needs when its native population cannot adequately step up to the plate. Their is a solid reason why mainly economic migration from Mexican and Latino countries has been a "thorn" for more than a couple generations now. Trump and Maga have made perceived grievances a major touchstone of their campaign. Sadly, it's paid off dividends, in spades. Sounds to me it's more about racism, than economics.
It is. Tom Schiller and Paul Waldman recently published a book titled “The Roots of White Rural Rage.” People in rural areas listen to different media outlets that city people, and they have been red a constant stream of culture war propaganda that has encouraged them to vote against their economic interests. Rural areas are badly hit when farms consolidate into mega farms, factories close, young people leave for cities, and they vote for the very people who cause these problems. The propagandists have no interest in solving these problems, but want to exploit them on their behalf.
Which is why Blue Tennessee (www.bluetennessee.org) among others is addressing rural needs. Jess Piper did a great interview this week with Tom Vilsack, discussing rural issues and how they can be addressed.
So true Kathy. Paul Waldman was or is with the WAPO. I wonder how he reacted to Bezos pulling of the Harris endorsement?
"Dirt Road Revival"
Worth a read.
https://yadontknow.blogspot.com/2024/09/rural-democracy.html
I grew up on a farm, working in the fields. My parents aspired to more for me than manual labor in the fields, which simply does not pay enough to eat and live indoors at the same time. In eastern NC, where I live, there are a large number of factory farms and meat processing plants. Those jobs are dirty and physically demanding. The locals, who already lived in the area, didn’t want to work at meat processing plants. Is that what you would want for your child? Immigrants came to fill those jobs. They didn’t take jobs from locals. Deport those immigrants, and who will do those difficult jobs?
Right on Frank. Of course it's about racism and the hate and divisiveness that accompanies it.
But the economy will suffer as a consequence of closing the borders. And is it even possible to deport even 10,000 migrants? Who is going to accept them and if we just dump them in Venezuela, Haiti and Central America for starters these countries will all turn them away. If they do accept them, they will be harshly dealt with in all of the usual ways a dictatorship deals with them.
I have worked with literally hundreds of immigrants as a computer consultant, plus we have hired several dozen more to work at our home. We would still be waiting for a roof in Florida if not for immigrants and the quality of work is as good or better than native born Americans. Y2K opened the door for Indian programmers (and other nationalities) with the H2B programs. It was an ugly transition in the 1990's because of the communication barrier.
Anyway, if you deport brown people you lose a large portion of our productive workforce in almost EVERY occupation. My primary care doctor is an immigrant from Columbia. She actually saved my life plus she is fluent in several languages. It is actually selfish of me, to use her when there are relatively few doctors that serve the Hispanic community.
We all know they can't deport immigrants, legal or illegal, and we likely can't even put them in camps. So is the alternative the Fascist solution to just kill them?
Thanks for all that info, Gary! I suspect you mean 10 million, and Trump has been gaslighting 20-30 million. The logistics and the reaction of foreign governments will make a mockery of these threats.
Trump has suggested nuking Mexico.
Gary Loft: Under TFG, he'll allow the military to do just that-that way no expense for food, water, etc. Whether the military will blindly follow orders, even if unlawful, is unknowable.Think of the psychic trauma that will be inflicted on those soldiers.
Agreed, Frank. As usual, Mr. Katz simply repeats what trompy and the rest of the MAGAs want everybody to be talking about instead of issues that are greater threats to us all. Immigration is certainly important, but it's far less so than the loss of basic rights, freedoms, safety, etc. And if it were more important, then the Republicans would have taken up and voted to approve the bipartisan-drafted bill that Biden said he's signed, am I right?
Biden was absent for almost 3 years on topic. And as usual, Mr. Katz repeats the unblemished truths about our politics which is that we are a fractured society and perfectly timed to get worked by the hidden puppeteers that are also pulling your strings, too.
Please tell me in very simple words how President Biden was absent for three years Bill. Are you saying this country, that has completely recovered from the pandemic economic slump the entire world experienced, has at the same time, stood still? All the leading economic indicators would have to challenge your words here. People are always going to bitch and main about gas and food prices-like when haven’t they? As for NAFTA, the idea began in the Reagan administration, at first as an agreement between Canada and the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Free_Trade_Agreement?wprov=sfti1#Negotiation,_signing,_ratification,_and_revision_(1988%E2%80%9394)
It ended up on Pres. Clinton’s desk after Mexico, Central and South America were added by Bush, Sr.
All the off shoring to so many other countries didn’t happen because of NAFTA.
Yes, exactly - and meanwhile he can explain to us his deep wisdom about these hidden puppeteers of which he has such privileged knowledge. Please, do discourse and enlighten us poor unwashed and barefoot pilgrims.
Per recommendation of my physician, I can’t get near you least I become infected with unknown diseases. And I left my bullhorn at home. Next time, though.
SPW, I am of course addressing the border issue only not the very good legislation he enacted. I don’t spend all day watching news but I get my feeds from New York Times, public TV News Hours, CBS and NBC Nightly news, Mother Jones and other places but not Fox for sure. And they all reported at various times, incursions at the border. That’s how I reasoned that Biden did little for three years on the border issue. At one time I even foolishly sent comments on an approach to helping to address issues by proposing with our Central American friends a Marshall-like plan to help build and stabilize Central America. I was also in favor of a multinational force to invade and overthrow the rogue Venezuelan government. I still believe that should be an option to consider. Now do I sound better?
We have no "open borders" in America! We have thousands of border agents working throughout America who protect our border. Yes, many immigrants are arriving but also many are being caught and sent back. People just see the flow into our country but ignore the sizable number of immigrants who return via deportation or their personal decision ... millions!
The only entity that is broadcasting an "open border" are Republicans and their complicit media outlets like Fox or social media platforms. NO Democrat has uttered the word. Biden at many times discouraged any immigrants from crossing our border. Blame Republicans for higher number of immigrants, NOT democrats. AND realize the majority immigrants crossing our border are doing it LEGALLY and state their asylum status ... a legal process in present laws. Want to change the laws and upgrade our immigration laws? Have the GOP pass the comprehensive immigration reform bill they have ignored to sign via bad advice from Trump.
comment from Wa-Po comment section about Elon Musk being here illegally, working on a student visa.
I have concluded that Mr. Katz is a one-trick pony (or perhaps, Trojan horse) who comes here to repeat ad nauseam the same Republican talking points in order to derail thoughtful conversations. I engaged with him once and have resolved never to do it again, no matter how much he needs rebuttal.
Agree, Monsieur, most definitely I agree on not contacting you again. As to one-trick phony? You must have eaten your morning wheaties with McDonald’s tainted onions.
Ooof, could you be more pretentious than to use Monsieur when you probably don't even know French, and beside the point, can you offer anything of substance for rebuttal beyond snide ad hominem deflections?
Buddy, one ad hominem deflection was deserving of another. I see you have nothing better to do with yourself besides posting stupid remarks.
It's the fear mongering that Trump does. Saying "illegal alliens" will come into your kitchen and slit your throat! Everyone knows this is not true but say it enough and people believe them. Do you think the people who support MAGA see or hear info like what you stated on your comment? Absolutely not. My husband is a Trump supporter Fox watcher. The drumbeat on Fox is fear. They do portray Democrats as communists as well as equal to the devil. People who watch this don't see any other source of "news" as I'm sure you know. I've got my husband watching a Spectrum News channel for bipartisan info but it doesn't change his mind. He was a housepainter and lost his job to those who would accept pay @ half what he received and they happened to be immigrants. People like him have a grudge and Trump feeds it. So sorry for venting but I'm so terrified of fascism.
To be slightly objective here, the immigrant "problem" is quite real. There are in fact at least several million possibly almost ten million undocumented immigrants in the US today. Under the current law, almost every one of those people are subject to arrest and deportation. This is absolutely without regard to ANY logical or rational justification for enforcing the law. Enforcing the law is always theoretically the right thing to do unless you believe the law is unconstitutional. And in general our immigration laws are not unconstitutional, just unenforced.
So trump, if elected will be completely within his rights and in fact may be legally correct to massively enforce the immigration laws. Will he be "right" in the moral sense? Maybe not. Will he be right in the political sense? That remains to be seen. But he will almost certainly be right in the legal sense. And that is technically all the justification he needs to carry out his draconian plan. It is difficult to see any court which would halt his ability to do that (and if they did, I would expect the Supreme Court as it currently exists to reverse quite quickly.
This is why i believe that the best course of action is to repeal all immigration laws and essentially open the borders to anyone with the exception of demonstrable criminals. This would make it much more difficult to attempt mass deportations. By removing the legal basis for such deportations, it would at least become an unlawful act to arbitrarily deport people based on status.
Jon, the undocumented you speak of have jobs and families, with citizen children (assuming they were born here.) Many, if not most, pay taxes and have SS/FICA withheld without access to benefits. Deportation (which you don't advocate, thankfully) would be extremely expensive to the taxpayers and the economy, but opening the borders isn't a solution either. I believe that those presently here (unless they were/are criminals of one sort of another) should be on a path to recognition as citizens. We need a sane, fair and manageable immigration solution without saying "Come one, Come all."
Agreed. This might also help your points, Doug. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/citizenship-undocumented-immigrants-boost-u-s-economic-growth/
Sorry I don't believe you can really have it " both ways". This just another repeat of the various forgiveness strategies that have been repeated over and over. Don't keep immigrants out because we really DO want them and need them (they obviously take jobs that most Americana don't want) let them sneak in and get settled and then a few years later when there is a political "need" to get even, throw some of them out but let the large majority have amnesty, give them some path to legitimacy, then say "we're closing the borders down now", rinse and repeat. It's getting pretty tiring. In some ways it gives credence to Trump's philosophy, build a huge wall and throw them all out and keep them out. At least he is consistent if terribly wrong IMHO.
You really can't have it both ways. You either have to deport those who are her e illegally or you have to acknowledge that our policies don't work and do trying to keep them out. The rinse and repeat concept of looking the other way for a while, then granting some kind of amnesty for those who were able to get through the obstacles and take up illegal residence is wrong and unfair. I have seen this done several times in my lifetime and I am sick of it. Either do what Trump says and deport every one who is here illegally or cancel the laws and permit unrestricted immigration. I see no other fair and decent alternatives. You know which one I think is right.
Now you too have gone over the deep end.
Katz
The economic reality in my state is that many of the agricultural jobs, on which much of our economy is based, no longer pay enough or appeal to white workers. Nor do the nonunion construction jobs. My neighbor is having his roof replaced down to the trusses and the entire crew is comprised of Spanish speaking workers even though our minimum wage is $15 an hour and there is a construction boom to accommodate all the growth we are experiencing. Without migrant workers, our economy would collapse and your supply of fresh fruit would cost far more than you would want to pay. The town where I grew up was called the fruit bowl of the nation and it got that way because every year migrant workers came to harvest its bounty. It’s now a major producer of wine grapes. So enjoy what our state and its workers provide and stfu with your nonsense.
Wait a holy minute. Are you trying to make me into an anti immigrant voice? Are you kidding? Not at all. Two points I have try to make clear on this issue. First, there is a legal way in and laws should be honored. But even more importantly, the optics bugs the heck out of me and if we think that allowing hundreds of thousands running over hot sand sells to the general public, I have a Brooklyn Bridge for you to buy. I want to say my country. The runners over hot sand must come second to the salvation of my form of government. Sorry if this bothers you.
Every federal immigration law has been racist. Starting in 1875 with a law designed to prevent Chinese wives from joining their husbands in the US.
Yep this is why I favor an open border policy. Get rid of the immigration laws and you get rid of these problems. The very fact that millions of undocumented immigrants can actually get into the country and take up illegal residence without causing a huge serious problem suggests to me that open borders will work much better than deportation. Look at the European union. They opened all they're borders to any one in the union and now their economies are mostly much more vibrant than ours. We need workers and immigrants do a lot of work that most Americans aren't interested in doing.
The town I grew up in turned 400 last year. In that time its economy has gone from extractive ship mast production and fishing, to hard scrabble farming and wool production, to weaving, tanning, shoe and brick manufacturing, and finally making plastic auto parts. All of these went away, with the ensuing pain that always follows economic transitions. The transitions didn't make themselves, however, they required a lot of effort by gritty, determined, fairly well educated people. It now has a very diverse economy that includes being the headquarters of a large insurance company.
NAFTA and globalization facilitated a race to the bottom where almighty capital won, is still winning, despite nearly losing it all in 2008 - when we literally printed money to save overextended (greedy) financial institutions. My town survived globalization because it stopped being a one or two industry town decades ago. The rust belt seems to be diversifying as well, through a lot of hard work and creativity. I just hope they can avoid the 'one industry town' trap that makes us vulnerable to greedy capitalists in the first place.
Supply side economics laid the groundwork for globalization, which hollowed out American manufacturing, which laid the groundwork for the Tea Party, the opioid epidemic (which is dwarfed by the epidemic of alcohol - but we don't talk about that), and a fascist bid to take over our country. Vote Harris/Walz in November.
If you listen to podcasts, Unf*cking the Republic had a really interesting take on the financial crisis: the crazy surge in oil prices driven by financial institutions. Worth a listen.
I am not laughing at you; there is a lot of truth in what you say. Those same rust belt areas were then flooded with opioids and in a way that is what Trump is still doing with his fake promises. I think Harris is recognizing this and trying valiantly to break through that mindset and level the playing field, as it were. Another 4 years of Trump would be a nightmare for this country and the world-just like Hitler was. Last night, I re-watched Gary Oldman as Churchill in His Darkest Hour and there was a line there that struck a chord with me-he that never changes his mind, never changes anything. I am heartened by the number of Republicans who are publicly endorsing Harris and hope we can get to a 54% Dem win so there is no doubt who has won this election-and then the work begins.
“ When Joe Biden refused to stem the tide of hundreds of thousands rushing the border, ”???
Republicans lying again. Biden has largely continued Trump’s migrant policies, but doesn’t separate families. Trump got the Republicans to withdraw their support from an immigration bill so he could use it as a political stalking horse, and they lie about immigrant caravans the way Elise Stefanik did the other day on X. The Republicans have replaced their oaths of office to uphold the constitution and laws of the United States with a private oath of loyalty to an incompetent wannabe dictator.
Speaking of Stefanik - I guess it wouldnt be surprising to hear the views of people who live in and around her district! Another politician who only "serves" herself & tffg and makes it very obvious!
Right?? The politicization of this issue began LONG, L O N G before Joe Biden took office. And it seems that there WAS a bi-partisan bill proposed during Joe’s administration that was denied even being brought up for a vote because Mr Trump rejected the appearance of any kind of win for Democrats before the 2024 election. Hmmm. This issue is largely manufactured as a political argument for campaigning just as abortion WAS and look what ham-handedly handling that looks like! I was never a fan of NAFTA but I believe Joe Biden has done more to right that grievous wrong than anyone since so the argument that Democrats won’t hear what the struggling middle class has to say is faulty also. They’re listening and working to make it better but MAGA is turning their noses up to all of it over an opportunity to make us pay for their losses.
In my reply to Mr Katz, I referred to Wikipedia about the original intent of NAFTA and discovered that NAFTA was the brainchild of the Reagan administration. It’s a fascinating reminder that people could perhaps benefiting by reading.
From CoPilot: Yes, Ronald Reagan first proposed the idea of a North American free trade agreement during his 1980 presidential campaign1
. However, it was during the administration of George H. W. Bush that negotiations began, and the agreement was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 19931
. So, while Reagan planted the seed, it took a few administrations to bring NAFTA to life.
It's an interesting comment isn't it? Sprinkled with a little skewed history. Always as if the person woke up in 1990 and thought everything was brand new.
Candace, Mr. Katz propagates this MAGA assertion frequently (despite my belief he's not MAGA.)
I can only surmise that trompy's statement in 2015 after descending the escalator must have made a favorable impression on him, because that's what he often talks about.
I think much of his purpose in life--or at least his purpose in commenting here--is attempting to build up his substack subscribers.
I have sizable things I do in my day jobs and real life I don’t depend on these scribbles to define who I am or what I do. Pa-lease.
I agree--he's also always flogging his "book."
Apparently, I offended him which was not my intention. I was giving my opinion of why he puts forth the opinions that he does. He sent a snarky reply my way. Usually when people on this forum disagree, they do it rather respectfully. He does sometimes make good points, but they are too often (again, in my opinion!) harping on the same point. It reminds me a bit of Trump continuing to beat a dead horse, and I tired of it. I could spend hours reading the comments, so I'm come to mostly just search out people that I am familiar with who I greatly respect. There are some really intelligent people on this forum and I feel like they raise my IQ a point or two by considering their viewpoints.
Miselle, I agree that there’s no place for snarky on Heather’s substack. That kind of adolescent junk belongs in that other grp of t and his three billion blind mice. HCR, you and others deserve the respect you all provide.
Let’s all simply ignore those others who can’t and won’t.
As much as Katz and Phil both about me, your argument is nonsense. They have a much right to be here as you and I and we should at least acknowledge that without proposing turning a deaf ear. That's what "they" do. We become much less of we do the same thing. Argue back, criticize, but acknowledge that they are entitled to disagree just as we are. Sorry this is the kind of approach that makes me feel this is so useless at times. Because people do not want to listen to what they dislike.
Well, I hit a nerve. Maybe he's having a bad day, who knows? I like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I have nice conversations and discussions with lots of people on the forum, and every now and then, people have different opinions. To me, some of his statements seem to be intentionally inflammatory. I don't care for those type and saw them so frequently that I skip over his posts. That was the issue with his substack as well, which is why I unsubscribed. Perhaps it's my own nerves being on edge these days as well, but I am trying to avoid stuff that I find too upsetting.
I feel the same way about Phil and his flogging of the "humanities" horse. It gets tiring hearing the same drone. sigh.
I do read stuff from Phil and I can't recall what you refer to, but I'll probably notice it now.
Pretty much every one (or at least most) of Phil's comments includes direct attacks on the standardized testing in modern schools and the "elimination" (his words) of humanities from school curriculum. It isn't completely wrong either, but it gets monotonous. At least to me.
Me too that was a bullshit line for sure, the rest of what he said made a lot of sense.
Seriously! He left in place most of trump’s border policy.
That seems to be Bill's fallback position.
This is an important reminder of where we got where we are, but you seem to have left out the role of Reagan, the supply-siders, and decades of Republican dominance. Why are they forgiven? Why does all the blame fall on Bill and Hillary in your telling?
The problem, to my mind, is always the desire for corporate power. And that lies in the apologies of economics, which isn't a science, as much as they try to make it one.
The laws are written around the rights of property owners, not stakeholders. Shareholders, not stakeholders. Shareholders have nothing in the game but money, and can fleewith it on any whim.
Stakeholders are the customers, employees, residents. Those who bought the products, supply the parts, live with the factory.
Shareholders should be the last in line, not the first.
Well I certainly disagree with this. Shareholders are the life blood of a capitalist economy I don't love it but it's true. Without their money the companies would cease to exist. I agree stakeholders are important too and have been ignored for too long but putting shareholders last would be tragic to the economy. Better would be to include both at the same level of importance. That would be a better capitalist solution, acknowledging the importance of stakeholders without relegating the people whose money makes it possible to last place. (And this from a communist like myself LOL).
Consider that the prolific Bill Katz seems to be a white man, so he prefers to focus on very recent U.S. history. He might benefit from going back to the time of the War Department memo, March 1945, and acknowledging that fascism's first cousin was already entrenched in the U.S. South under the name of Jim Crow, and its influence affected the national government and the country at large. It greatly influenced the New Deal before WW2 and the GI Bill after it.
exactly! IMO it started with the sham trickle-down economics theory from Reagan, Thatcher and Mulroney. Prior to that we had vibrant cities, lots of union jobs, healthy middle class. But the oligarchs needed more money and then of course they then needed even more and along came NAFTA. Forty + years of a bs economic theory and the chickens have come home to roost. And the oligarchs keep gaslighting the public to believe it's the immigrants' fault ,those on welfare and maje you turn a blind eye to those who ate actually gouging us...corporations. The oligarchs are running the show in America and globally
No argument here. I only mention the migration crises since it sells poorly in any nation in any era.
You only mentioned the migration “crisis” because there is no real crisis. If there were, the bipartisan border bill would have been signed instead of squashed under trump’s demand because it was an issue he could run on. He inflates numbers and exaggerates small issues that could be dealt with under normal circumstances but because the House is tied into MAGA knots and the Senate pretty close to the same, very little can happen. Don’t even get me going on the Supreme Court; and I use the descriptor of “supreme” very loosely.
In a simplified fashion, I drew a line between the downside of NAFTA (American workers losing income) and her “deplorables.” We would have been better without them in my opinion, of course.
Ellen: 💯💯💯🎯🎯🎯
@ Bill Katz, in Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” speech, she didn’t call Trump supporters who were in despair because they had lost their good jobs “deplorables.” In fact, she said “those are people we have to understand and empathize with.” She specifically defined “the basket of deplorables” as half of Trump’s supporters who were “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic – you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people – now have 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive hateful mean-spirited rhetoric. Now, some of those folks – they are irredeemable, but thankfully, they are not America.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basket_of_deplorables
But the "basket of deplorables" was such a wonderful gift/phrase for the Repubs! Three words out of an entire paragraph/statement! Just like the clips that faux and its "followers" pick up on today. I think that there should be better comebacks from the Dems. They do lack a bit of that kind of reaction.
Thanks Ellen for the link - HERE IS THE ACTUAL SPEECH!
At an LGBT campaign fundraising event in New York City on September 9, Clinton gave a speech and said the following:[11]
I know there are only 60 days left to make our case – and don't get complacent; don't see the latest outrageous, offensive, inappropriate comment and think, "Well, he's done this time". We are living in a volatile political environment.
You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. (Laughter/applause) Right? (Laughter/applause) They're racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic – you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people – now have 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive hateful mean-spirited rhetoric. Now, some of those folks – they are irredeemable, but thankfully, they are not America.
But the "other" basket – the other basket – and I know because I look at this crowd I see friends from all over America here: I see friends from Florida and Georgia and South Carolina and Texas and – as well as, you know, New York and California – but that "other" basket of people are people who feel the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures; and they're just desperate for change. It doesn't really even matter where it comes from. They don't buy everything he says, but – he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different. They won't wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroin, feel like they're in a dead-end. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well.
— Hillary Clinton, CBS News[12]
And just in case you might think I’m a troll Russian plant, I spent 3 struggling years writing about the evils of Donald Trump. My credentials are clean.
I agree, Bill. When I was working as a lobbyist in Michigan, I sat stunned as our Democratic governor Granholm announced in a meeting that our auto workers would be sent back to college to learn how to be computer technicians. With that, she denigrated a whole, hard working class of Michiganders. Over the next decade, Trump had ready recruits.
So what’s the problem with learning new information if that will enable a person to make a better living? Were such folks just being hard-headed or stupid? Many of us have done the very same things on our own. Good lord! What an ignorant excuse for being short-sighted or lazy.
You must then be trolling in support of the Navalnyites. Bravo ! We will win because we must. 1776 was a very tough year, too as were 1777, 78…. Until the Treaty of Paris. We must always boldly look at what we have wrought and be willing to say: “How little I truly know” and correct course with honesty and humility. We can all do this when we don’t care who is right. The who part doesn’t matter to me, does it matter to any of you? I don’t think it ever mattered to BEN franklin, either.
No person is perfect, no President is perfect. Some of Bill Clintons' presidential decisions were wrong. I have always believed that Hillary is the smarter half of that couple.
But, that aside, nothing Bill Clinton did was as harmful to our middle class as what Ronald Regan did during his presidency. You ever rant about that?
Rachel: Exactly! It goes back to St Ronald & that POS Gingrich
Bill...I would argue that Hillary Clinton's mistake was giving Donald and his team something to twist. Here is what she said, what she called out. I fully agreed with her and then some.
1) It was twisted into she is calling all of you (maga) deplorable and they believed it.
2) those who are deplorable didn't like being called out.
https://time.com/4486502/hillary-clinton-basket-of-deplorables-transcript/
So anytime this came up in conversation I was having I would say #1? or #2?, which are you? I usually got blank stares.
Immigration...been a problem for a very long time. And it will get worse because the climate is a changing!
Although just the other day I talked with a coworker who is from Ecuador. She came here legally. Took her 5 years. She is not happy with people who enter and stay illegally. I get that, but she wasn't too sympathetic to those running for their lives. She told me that she was running for her life. Her father was a politician who was murdered. To her there is no excuse.
"Refused to stem the tide" of immigrants. As someone who reads Heathers work, you cannot be so uninformed as to think this tide of immigrants is new. Or that we can interfere with their travel in other countries. Or that there isn't a good reason they are fleeing the fascism and economic destruction in their own countries.
Otherwise your comments re NADTA are well placed. I'd propose the idea that it was the turnover of our national interest to corporations to benefit their shareholders and CEOs, who pillage their companies with stock bonuses that were actually illegal until Reagan. Governing for the benefit of the wealthy has never turned out well. And here we are again.
It all comes down to money, and the greed of those who, like Musk and dumpty and all the rest, already have more than enough but hunger for yet more.
While he is not a troll, I think he sometimes writes to rile people up to get responses and gin up subscribers for his own substack. He certainly spends a LOT of time putting many, many comments on the forum. I often reply to folks on this forum, many who write their own substacks, and when I replied to him, I was surprised to get a message asking me to subscribe to his!
I skip past all of his diatribes now, in fact, the only reason I stopped her was as I scrolled I noticed your first sentence and went back to see who you were replying to.
Well I’m glad you didn’t sign up. How’s dat. Those of us who write, are always promoting themselves. Stop being silly. If your not a writer, you wouldn’t understand and I guess you’re not.
Actually, Bill, I did--and then I unsubscribed as I found it to be pretty much the same stuff you post daily in the comments.
Y’all seem to have blanked out the time period 2021 through 2023. The nightly news broadcasts. The News Hour and so on and it’s as if this period where Biden was not interested satisfying the public’s need to see him act and y’all have the blinders on because think you are correct and everyone else is wrong. So if Trump wins, I welcome you to the New Snazzy Nazi States of America. Enjoy. If you link arms on the dance floor and in unison, kick you legs up as high as they will go, and do what you are told, you will be alright otherwise, you will be sent to detainment camps to be re-educated.
So, Bill, any President is able to make sweeping changes ALL BY HIMSELF?
Really? Going against the Repubs & sadly some of his own party and just DOING it.
There are many issues that I disagree with Biden on, some issues I disagreed with Obama on - but a president isnt KING! It requires cooperation from far too many different individuals and groups. You know this!
And, yeah - tffg will correct that if he gets in. And will "king" himself and his vp. Do we all have to march in locked step behind Biden or Harris? NOPE - but thats what the dumpster will demand.
So, you know what? Democrats need to stick together - somehow they always have factions that pull them apart - why is it that Repubs dont? We are seeing the locked steps in that party right now.
Try an executive order if the drama needs to be lessened of the Insurrection Act and if only to show the people he meant business.
I agree 100% - very well said. Clinton’s NAFTA signing was the beginning of a whole-hearted embrace by the Democratic Party of a capitalist system that prioritizes wealth concentration by a few rather than the well-being of many - especially rural white communities. While I don’t think Trump’s policies will help them one bit (will in fact hurt them) he speaks in language that acknowledges the real economic struggle they feel.
Both parties (IMO) engage in a “don’t look up” strategy to prevent people from noticing that we live under an economic system that has created an unprecedented concentration of wealth at the top … a system of unregulated capitalism that leaves most of us now vulnerable to the impact of venture funds buying up our health care systems, our housing, food sources, vets, (the list goes on and on). Funds that are required to worship at the alter of fiduciary duty (financial return) rather than the well-being of us all. The fact that Kamala couldn’t answer Anderson Cooper’s question about how she was going to address the high price of milk (her answer talked about regulating price gauging during times of crisis - nothing about during regular times) is a perfect example of why this race is so close! It was such a prime opportunity for her to speak to these broader economic issues at play.
Kate, I suppose if I were running for President, I wouldn’t expound on why it’s not possible for me to succeed in solving that (or many other legitimate issues because….rich people, Capitalism, corruption amongst SCOTUS and GOP, etc. I would think, rightly, that voters wouldn’t want to hear about all the things I can’t do when my opponent says he can fix everything.
You’re right - it’s not an easy answer. But I think her ability to speak to people about this type of issue is critical to her succeeding - and she doesn’t seem to be able to do it (I’m not sure why - she could craft an answer that makes people feel “heard”). My guess is that guy asking the question about milk prices sat down unconvinced she would do anything about it. That makes it a lost opportunity.
it wasn't all NAFTA
IMO blame all starts with Reagan, Thatcher and Mulroney...bs trickle-down economics theory
And the 3 strikes your out program which incarcerated more African American males. And the “ending welfare as we have known it” program. Well that program wasn’t that ill conceived since it forced my lazy sister of social welfare and to go get a job.
You do know that NAFTA was written and negotiated by GHW Bush, following an initiative by Ronald Reagan, right? Clinton brought it across the finish line…yet he is given full credit for its impact on America. And the other drivers of rust belt decline, including globalization, the buyout boom and financialization of deregulated capital markets, and the collapse of the union movement…all predated his signature on that line. The anecdote you tell draws wrong conclusions from the faulty recollection of history…the narrative that Republicans are the better stewards of America’s economic prosperity and that Democratic spending leads to a decline in “freedom” is one the GOP had used effectively since Reagan showed up.
Oh my God no. I understand and understood that Reagan was a complete disaster. I don’t have all the historic answers. I don’t come from academia. I’m not a historian nor social scientist. But I do try to think for myself outside the boundaries of partisanship. And I do adjust my beliefs when necessary. A side note, in 2015, Senator Sherrod Brown was showing signs of running for president. In my humble opinion he would have made a great president. And he would have won.
Part of the truth…
I couldn't agreed more with you regarding the devastating effects of Clinton's policies, but since in the democracy there's always room for correction and change of course as Biden- Harris had done to revert the situation you described. The only thing left is to apologize and push forward.
On “The Dragon’s Den” TV show investors consistently told inventors that they would support their manufactured product ideas only if they were made in China. Cheap labor meant high profit margins. “Dollar” stores sprung up everywhere. Happy days. Everyone likes a deal, me too, but we just can’t admit that we all sat back as the rugs under our feet were yanked away.
There's no argument that will ever convince the people who were harmed by NAFTA that they should support a Democrat, because Clinton was in office when it was signed? Do they know that the idea was largely Republican originated and supported by Reagan and Bush Sr,? Do they understand that if Republicans get their way, Unions will be eliminated, and labor protections and safety regulations will be a thing of the past? What do you think Democrats need to do to win them over, given that their major grievance against Democrats is a Republican policy?
Louise, if I could answer the questions you pose I think I would package them and sell them. As I’ve said before, people vote emotional they rarely vote using reason. They will vote themselves right into the hands of their executioners. This struggle on the right mostly, is only about money and power. Money through power. Nothing else is important. But it’s important for democrats to try and guess which programs should be pulled back because they don’t sell. For instance, Reparations will never sell. They are even losing support of Black men who woulda thought. We need to stop the foolishness of allowing bio men or trans women whatever, into girls showers. No nonono. Give them their own shower stall if needed but keep them out of the girls room. And don’t misunderstand maiming facor or rights for all but particularly women’s rights.
Who would've thought that 2016 would mark the beginning of the end of US democracy if Putin had his way?
Been grinding my teeth ever since that day tfg was elected seeing daily that survival of democracy was on a knifes edge
Ruth, understanding differences? Only when people become less insecure. It is easy to see differences; the challenge is to see similarities.
I would love to see this pamphlet reprinted and widely available. The polarization is palpable and likely to assume greater strength regardless of the election's victor.
I’m still on that wagon Ruth..still believing we can learn how to be happier with ‘enough’, we’ve certainly had enough of war, hatred, my way or the highway people.
You ask the Q, Steve, "How can so many well-educated people be so cruel and reckless . . . ?"
Answer: by the Powell memo plan issued August 23, 1971, and its phalange of far-right foundations such as The Heritage Foundation, the Hoover Institute, ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council, and eventually many more, all filthy-rich-mega-funded, up to and including The Federalist Society.
Yeah, Phil, they’ve been working on this for a long long time. Still think Will Rogers had the right idea to give the money to poor because it will end up in the hands of the rich soon enough…..given to the rich, mostly they don’t share the wealth & no “trickle down” happens. Fascinating to study, but crap to actually live through. Sigh.
There are nations in which a few families are mega rich, while most live in squalor. Reagan's promised utopia (literally no-place) has never existed, and their was never a reasonable argument it ever would. Big Lies and Republican enabled plutocratic takeover of the "free press" have brought us to our current dilemma
As an example, it was the poverty in El Salvador, with 16 families owning most of the wealth, that caused the people to support revolution in the late 1970s. Reagan could not look beneath the Communist-Capitalist dichotomy to see what the root causes were. The late Jeane Kirkpatrick shamefully attacked the memories of the three sisters and one lay worker who were murdered by Salvadoran soldiers we ourselves had trained. St. Óscar Romero was murdered as he said Mass by Roberto D’Aubuisson for the “crime” of thinking the Salvadoran people deserved lives of dignity.
I would add Phil that Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a one page essay when imprisoned by the Nazis in 1943 that I did not mention called On Human Stupidity, which explains how intelligent people can believe the most foolish things. You should be able to find it online - it is worth a read.
The other concerning fears I have is for the elimination of basic public goods like the NEH, NEA, and NPR, not to mention the Department of Education and possibly EPA. The looming horror I didn't mention, beyond obvious nuclear destruction, is if Putin attacks Poland then Europe - particularly Germany, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, will be in for a massive refugee crisis.
Any one or all of the things mentioned in my comment above, plus the ones here, would be catastrophic in and of itself.
Found this link for starters; other links in the article on Bonhoeffer.
Many thanks! I had not known of this essay.
Link:
https://sproutsschools.com/bonhoeffers-theory-of-stupidity/
thank you for sharing this! As a side note: in the city of Muenster, Germany there is a district where my aunt lived where there is Bonhoeffer Strasse and other streets named after those that tried to defend democracy during WWII.
Thx for referencing Dietrich Bonhoeffer-one of my personal heroes and a Lutheran saint of blessed memory. I’m an ELCA pastor-ordained almost 40 years ago. I’m proud of the statement our Conference of Bishops put out recently condemning the normalization of lies and disinformation. (I wish it had come out sooner, but grateful nonetheless). Silence is complicity-and democracy dies not only in darkness, but also in silence. Our task is to boldly speak out against the hatred that has become regularized and continue to pursue democracy, kindness, compassion, decency, and integrity that create a better community for all. Again, thanks, Steve. Bonhoeffer was and is a gift to the world. (And folks, the new movie is a bastardization of his legacy-his family has written a letter condemning it as a political tool for the extremist right.)
I wish the USCCB would condemn Trump. They try to paper over their internal differences, but the reality is that too many of them want us to vote to agree with a candidate over pelvic politics, and some have become Trump groupies. I can’t in good conscience ignore Trump’s general unsuitability to be president. He will end 235 years of Constitutional government, which admittedly wasn’t always present for marginalized people.
There is a street in Muenster Germany named Bonhoeffer Strasse, in a district with other streets names after resistors in WWII . A city my aunt lived and where I once worked
Definately elimination of the EPA as well. My dad, an environmental engineer for Dow Chemical, represented the Chemical Manufacturing Association when EPA was formed, and worked with Anne Gorsuch and Rita Lavelle to implement the Superfund law, a law which neither Anne or Rita supported.. He thought that little Neil was very nice, though.
My early am laugh, Anne certainly trained her son in her own image
I worry about that as well. Eric Metaxas is a Trump groupie and Christian Nationalist writer who published a very flawed and panned Bonhoeffer biography. I think he should read the essay and ponder it, but I doubt he will. Metaxas’s Bonhoeffer biography was panned by Bonhoeffer scholars because they understood that he hadn’t read a lot of Bonhoeffer’s work, and had not read it in detail. The book is rather less about the historical Bonhoeffer than it is about Metaxas’s views. He labors under the misconception the Democratic Party is totalitarian, when it’s his own Republican Party that has ceased to believe in government of, for and by the people. He and his buddy Sean Feucht get mad at the use of the term Christian Nationalism, but it accurately describes their views.
Absolute honor, Steve, that my name appear in sentence with that of Dietrich Bonhoeffer also.
Will look up the essay of his you kindly mention.
Phil, you did not mention the august institution that (literally) crowned all these efforts: the US Supreme Court, the guardian of the Constitution and the rule of law.
I was deeply shocked by my own assertion that the Justices' recent decision protecting the rights and privileges of the President by granting immunity for official acts in effect restated the central Nazi tenet, Führerprinzip, according to which the leader can do no wrong, being above the Law.
While one can see some counter-arguments, I'd feel safer if someone could persuade me conclusively that my statement is mistaken.
* * *
As for today's Letter from an American, how can it be distributed to all members of the armed forces? Perhaps via an official organ? In any case, readers should send it to all military personnel they know.
This letter does indeed merit a far broader circulation.
* * *
I am familiar with Pastor Bonhoeffer's essay which I read with great interest as I have long held my own views on the same subject.
I agree wholeheartedly with Sonia Sotomayor’s dissenting opinion in U.S. v. Trump. Any decision that places a president above the law is blatantly ignoring the Constitutional limits the founders intended for the presidency. They never intended for presidents to be above the law, but here we are. The names of the justices who supported this shameless power grab deserve to live in infamy.
Yes... but to have imposed Führerprinzip, Hitler's basic outlook that the leader is above the law and always right...
Consequently, all criticism, all resistance to his actions is criminal.
Here, you have, readymade, the makings of a Nazi dictatorship.
Peter, I totally agree with your comment that this letter be more widely circulated, especially to the military. Great idea!
Ah, indeed, Peter -- though I've now long been calling it only the Clarence court.
Yes, they push fascism, this court of the deeply corrupt, the massively perjured.
Phil- Roberts has been on this executive power- theocratic side for decades. The only difference is that now he has a majority and no longer needs to be incremental about it. Read American Crusade by Seidel. It’s the Roberts Court unleashed.
Once again Peter I agree with you that this letter in particular needs to be spread deep and far especially to military personnel.
I still cannot believe the signs I see around here: Vets for T…..
I’ve been reading S Lewis’ It Can’t Happen Here on kindle. I also have Bonhoeffer in my k library, which because of your post, I’ll return to and read on today.
You and others are educating me in the best and most profound way at this critical time. Thank you.
More like thank YOU.
From the project2025[dot]org website: “Advisory Board - A broad coalition of over 100 conservative organizations has come together to form the project pillars.”
Actually, now over 110 groups with successful track records, including the ones you mentioned. The vast right-wing conspiracy isn’t hiding.
Yes, Jonathan, not hiding now.
But for decades -- even as they hired 1,000s of lobbyists swamping Washington, D.C. -- no one knew how organized these post-Powell memo far-right foundations were.
Wendell Berry, Diane Ravitch, Kurt Andersen, and several others who wrote seminal books on the damages being done -- not any of them for a long, long time knew how these damages were all orchestrated by that Powell memo, how all those far-right foundations were all along working in concert.
https://billmoyers.com/content/the-powell-memo-a-call-to-arms-for-corporations/
An excellent resource on the emergence of corporate political power.
I just completed a whirlwind "discussion" on CoPilot (Microsoft's AI) re the Powell Memo. The memo leads directly to Project 2025. Thanks for pointing to the memo.
These various funded institutions are not official government foundations, and all have come up with various ways to empower billionaires and corporations at the expense of everyone else.
Always, always these American privateers -- or, better, call them pirates -- playing the alternative government, answerable only to big money and often undermining, even sabotaging the work of the Federal Government...
Thank you for putting it so plainly. One more question. For those of us who have children and grandchildren - what do we tell them that we did to fight this nightmare existence?
What do YOU tell yours? That's the salient question each of us must ask ourselves.
Propaganda works…it works really well on the disaffected and ignorant.
This is why Project 2025, if implemented,plans to shut down the Dept. of Education.
Another department that Project 2025 will eliminate is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, known as NOAA - as in NOAA Weather! Yes - the agency that tracks hurricanes & tornadoes & sends out the weather bulletins to TV & radio stations. That department will be privatized!
My husband & I were sailors for well over 20 years. And before we ever left our house in Maine to drive down to our mooring in Southwest Harbor, we always listened to NOAA radio on our Weather One Radio, to hear the forecast of the winds, tides & other crucial information that NOAA provides to fishermen, lobstermen & pleasure- boaters like us that might literally save our lives.
Now some private company will monetize the weather report.
KMD, my Dad was a meteorologist; trained as a MetTech in WWII, he had a 30+ year career in the Weather Bureau, then NOAA. He was one of the first on the west coast trained in the use of Doppler radar for forecasting.
And minimize any possible connection of weather to climate change. Weather with a political bias.
Its already happened. All of the alternate weather services are platformed off the original NOAA service. I think it was done thru questionable legal means and appropriations in court.
Almost daily, a stink on the wind...
Yes they are. AccuWeather is one.
Ronald Reagan tried to do away with the Dept. of Education!
A ridiculously stupid idea. Education is so crucial to the health and growth of our country!!!
Ed Bernays, Walter Lippman fine-tuned the techniques of "persuasion", examined later by Ed Herman & Chomsky in "Manufacturing Consent" and "Necessary Illusions", broadcast on the Canadian CBC Massey Lecture series, 1988.
This is a powerful description of the many deleterious things that realistically might happen IF Trump/MAGA Republicans get into power after the November election. The first step of problem solving is to identify the problem. Then we figure out ways to solve it, or better yet, prevent it. Such is the task we’ve been facing for years now, and most urgently, have another 9 days ahead.
Even with the best outcome of Democrats in control of the Presidency and Congress, MAGA and their moneyed supporters will not disappear. We will need to fill in the cracks, bolster the norms routinely exploited by Trump and his minions. The longer term answer of mitigating this fascist movement is to educate the people—starting with children—about civics, history, responsibility, empathy, egalitarianism, and constructive life-affirming constructive problem solving. Education happens both in schools and in families’ homes.
With the worst outcome of MAGA control, we refresh our understanding of Timothy Snyder’s short book, On Tyranny, starting with “Do not obey in advance,” and do resistance, individually and organized. (Independent book sellers—no more Amazon.)
In any case, as Heather periodically says in her Facebook chats, we have the numbers and the power of the majority. MAGA and Trump are loud bullies who revel in attention and fear mongering. The Harris-Walz campaign has been terrific at calling them out, shrinking them. Our challenge is to continue to mobilize our numbers and build our strength. We have the momentum.
I hate to tell you his, Ellie, but Amazon is the only place that treats authors fairly. They always sell everything they buy, no returns (which are financed from the author's royalties), and they always pay the publisher on time - none of that gets done by the so-called independent bookstores, which are usually under-capitalized and many of them finance their purchases with "return credit." And they don't always pay on time. And their selection is hardly ever "everything." And "no more Amazon" won't hurt Amazon. But you'll get to feel righteous over having less. I wish I was wrong but I'm not.
Tom Part of me is revolted by Bezos and Amazon and the impact of local bookstores. I have fond memories of hours in Foyles in London and Kramer in D. C. Discovering Abe Books (now owned by Amazon) permitted me to obtain rare books in Australia and elsewhere.
The raw truth is that when I wish to buy a book (or search for a book), I go to Amazon. The book arrives within several days and, with Prime, I don’t pay shipping.
Also, though I do it less now than in past years, I have reviewed many dozens of books on Amazon.
My wife laments that she doesn’t buy books from a fine local bookstore. So do I. But the availability of so many books on Amazon, the reviews of these books, and swift delivery render me an Amazon devotee.
You've described it. If people want to hate a "piggy booksore" that really is piggy, hate Barnes & Noble, which does every one of the things I listed above - they over-order and then finance their new purchases with "return credit," they hardly ever pay on time. It wasn't Amazon that killed the good bookstores, it was B&N that bought out and killed Borders and Crown and all the others.
If only Bezos wasn’t afflicted with that greed/power bug.
This is accurate. Having created a successful booksellers global market, aren’t Amazon trying to recalibrate their corporate e market model by opening local bricks and mortar bookshops ? I believe starting in Seattle.
They're not successful, since they only stock "Amazon top sellers" - which isn't as big a market as they thought. The one in Santa Monica closed.
I did not know that they had chosen such a narrow literary bandwidth to sell. Failed deservedly then. Pity, as they could have used their position to reverse the global monopolization paradigm in book selling.
Oh honey you pay shipping. You pay it on the front end, like I do, to be a Prime member. I like Amazon. Bezos... not so much.
TC, all of us who have to deal with publishers these days are stuck with Amazon, as is anyone who wants to see better television than the muck produced here in the USA, because services like BritBox and Acorn work with Amazon (which has long been an international company, so simply not using it here in the US does nothing). Indeed, I consider the publishers themselves to be the ones who are abusing authors, as in academic and academic-adjacent publishing we get a pittance in royalties on books that are priced at obscene levels no academic can actually afford--and libraries are no longer willing to pay. And why? Because those publishers find they can make a whole lot more money breaking books up and selling them chapter by chapter as e-book "packets" to readers and students. This is also why the market for not-quite-illegal online libraries (like Z-brary) exist. Moreover, unlike the Walton family and all those old brick and mortar mega bookstores like B&N, Amazon (which also owns Whole Foods) pays their employees very well and provides them with excellent benefits. Granted: this tactic is designed to discourage them from joining unions, but I have people in my life whose ability to survive is dependent on Amazon and so I keep on using them. When I was living in a very rural area and the nearest decent bookstore (a Borders) was 100 miles away, I, along with everyone else at the university where I was teaching, were utterly dependent on Amazon. So yes, it sucks that we have to deal with a hypocritical arse like Bezos, but he is getting the heat because he owns a newspaper. What about all the companies that are bending the knee to CFDT who are out of the spotlight but still essential to our survival?
Exactly right on all Linda. Thanks for reminding me again why I opted not to pursue a career in Acadamania.
You are correct, TC.
My main point was, after sounding the alarm, take the next step of problem solving. “No more Amazon” is one idea among many, and all of these ideas are subject to ongoing adjustments according to what is and is not working.
Siva Vaidhyanathan (via Rebecca Skolnit via Robert Hubbell reader Kathleen Berry) pointed out that Bezos’s profits come from 7,500 government offices and agencies tied to Amazon Web Services—so that’s where we follow the money more effectively:
https://open.substack.com/pub/roberthubbell/p/sunday-morning-comments-video-wjay?utm_source=direct&r=6pp8t&utm_campaign=comment-list-share-cta&utm_medium=web&comments=true&commentId=74278435
💸
Knowing that you are a successful author, I appreciate your insights, and I believe you.
I am an unpublished writer. I have written three manuscripts since the start of COVID. One was professionally edited by an editor who was recommended to me by a midlist author of over 25 novels.(Another published author who I met and have exchanged emails offered an introduction to her editor as well.)
The editor gave me insightful criticisms, some flattering praise, and ultimately said he gages my work worthy of publishing, but I am stymied at the task of securing the absolutely required agent. I never knew HOW many genres of literature exists and how agents often represent only one type of work. (For example, just in "romance" there is "sweet" romance (Amish type, no sex) YA (which might have a bit of sex) LGBTQ+ (which has every subgenre that exists in that community) Regency romance (royalty) and interspecies (Twilight series). I'm sure you know this, Tom, I include that for any others who might read this comment.
I have toyed with going via Amazon--but everywhere I research, I hear the sad truth that the average self published author sells about 200 books. Depressing thought, when the editing cost me $6000 (I had come into a tiny bit of money to fund this, and truly, it was worth every penny). Also, to have a quality, custom designed cover--how many of us judge a book by it's cover?-- and wordsmithing for Amazon would cost another $5000. (Totally true of the two self published authors I know.) Maybe I will consider Amazon. Amazon is also daunting, but I respect your opinions. In the years I've been reading LFAA, your posts are occasionally salty, but IMHO are never wrong.
What genre do you write in? If you've been judged "publishable" perhaps I can help you get that agent, but I have to know your genre. DM me.
But isn’t it true that independent bookstores support the publishing industry’s willingness to publish less “commercially viable” content and authors?
Actually, Amazon does that better than many but their booklist is so huge they can be hard to find--and they use the same systems as Google and FB when it comes to the logarithms for promoting books to readers. Independent bookstores are good for niche audiences: here in KC there are a number of them that sponsor author readings, focus on BIPOC authors, or LGBTQ+ authors. Supporting them by attending readings and purchasing from them is a good strategy, but in reality the authors don't make any more from books that are sold at full price than they do when Amazon (or B&N) sells at a discount. The retail price means nothing to authors. The publisher's price to bookstores is what counts for royalties. The one thing that does promote books and gets notice is advance pre-sales and pre-orders. And most independent bookstores don't engage in that kind of thing. If you order in advance from the publisher directly or through a vendor like Amazon or one of the independent booksellers that takes pre-orders you are genuinely supporting the authors. Really, the book industry on all levels is pretty much a boondoggle with authors as the victims. I should know: I have published a lot in academic presses that sell commercially and the system totally sucks, no matter the benevolence of a series editor or acquisitions editor.
So true again.
I have Tim Snyder’s book, and must reread it. The owners of the LA Times and the Washington Post ignored Snyder’s first rule, do not consent in advance.
Good questions, all. Read Philip Roth's little gem, The Plot Against America, a novel that imagines Lindbergh beat Roosevelt in 1940 and made a deal with Hitler. It illustrates how we are one election away from fascism, which we are now. Even if Kamala Harris wins, she and her administration face a daunting task re-educating all of the far right's "patriots."
And without Ike.
Trump followers have experienced democracy is not working for improving their lives, because of wealth inequality. Tax cut in the name of stimulating economy is the disguised beginning of the fascism in America. It began with the Reagan administration, I understand.
And with the Powell Memo in 1971.
There is a long history of the work to kill the goose that insisted on laying golden eggs. It’s very clear now that the few big bois want all those eggs for themselves at the expense of the poor goose.
As I said, there are groups in the US who do not care about democracy at all. The Christian Nationalists are ruled by fascists so quite comfortable with fascism in their churches and their lives. They do not care about the Constitution, but the "word of God" as they understand it. In order to get to heaven they feel Trump will enforce the dictates they want to see in place which they believe will get the Lord to take them to heaven. See Andra Watkins,
https://project2025istheocracy.substack.com/p/what-is-a-christian-nationalist
https://project2025istheocracy.substack.com/p/what-is-the-new-apostolic-reformation
Then there are the White Power Militias. They also don't care about democracy and want to replace our constitution with their own, after getting rid of non-White, non-Christian, and LGBTQ+ people from the US and then the planet. They want to have a global White Power Nation state that erases the rest of us from this earth. That includes women who are not subservient to them. They see Trump as their ticket to that goal. Hear what Prof. Kathleen Belew, expert on Modern White Power movements says about it in this Fresh Air Interview or read the transcript. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/605661710
Even better is reading her book, Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America. Once you read it, you can see how what she is discussing of the newer plans of the movement is coming alive under Trump. That is the move to enter politics and take over the government from within, still intending to destroy the constitution, but to tone down their racist rhetoric to do so, and to decry immigrants instead of Blacks, and Brown skinned Americans, with the intention of getting rid of the latter but calling them immigrants because anyone who is not White is considered an illegal immigrant.
And, we have the super wealthy, who also don't care about the constitution and are fascists as long as they are the ones in power with their wealth. They see Trump as a means to paying little to no taxes on their accumulating wealth, and allowing their businesses to exploit the rest of us with no interference from the government. There is overlap between all of the groups, and SCOTUS has 6 justices who are members of the first group, and perhaps the last as well.
We have to believe that our country would not be as successful as it is, without there being more people who will support Democracy and Freedom. Fascism is not good for business, not good for economies, not good for creativity, not good for people. We have to believe that once having had a taste of Trump, more people will recognize that he will not be good for them. We have before in 2020. We can do it again.
It’s not the “word of God” as they understand it, but as they have rewritten it
As their religious leaders are interpreting it to them.
See this latest ProPublica article about Christian Nationalists. It discusses the evolution of CNs and the evolution of the New Apostolic Reformation, tying it into their support of Donald Trump as the leaders tell them to.
https://projects.propublica.org/christian-nationalism-origins/?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=majorinvestigations&utm_content=feature
As one previously hypnotized by religious zealots, I know the process. Fortunately, it was not around every corner then. There were some sane options. Now, as you document, the organized “Elmer Gantry’s” are family and friends.
JD I am glad you are no longer hypnotized.
Lord, so am I. Cults are anything but fun. It is fear, wrapped in envy, wrapped in hate for anything “other.” Didn’t take me long to decide that anything other was better…
Exactly.
So what do we do? I got to hear Harris and Michelle Obama speak here in Michigan yesterday and a part of me wished to never have to leave the auditorium. How can so many be mislead by Trump and his minions? You outline so well everything I fear. I have volunteered and donated to the Harris campaign and am hoping and although I am not particularly religious, praying that Kamala is elected.
Well said. I'm concern we will never get our freedoms back. Unfortunately, as an old baby boomer, I feel like I'm talking to deaf and blind people. They say stupid things like he doesn't mean that. I'm frustrated that they ignore everything Trump, Vance, Musk are saying and doing. They just blindly follow.....right off a cliff. Will people ever trust each other enough to overthrow fascism? Cuba couldn't. God bless America.
That is what Kamala faces every day, and all of us, sadly. You described it exactly.
Dear Steve: Unfortunately, although you write clearly and I do not enjoy correcting you on this, YOU HAVE SWALLOWED THE COOL-AID of the Oligarchs and the Autocracy. Yes, I read what you said, and I urge you not to give in to their manufactured and propagandized feeling and sense of INEVITABILITY. As many before Tim Snyder have said: In our existence, there is no such thing as inevitable as long as we each maintain our Autonomy and seek new ways to move through and forward. This is what we must all do together now, even if the worst happens on November 5th. This is not a one shot fight, and yes the election is of critical importance, and yes we may still be surprised by the US vote. This will be long term fight and we need to be prepared for it mentally.
For what it is worth I do not think this inevitable. I think it very possible, but not inevitable. I also hold out that we could be in for a pleasant surprise and Harris over-performs and wins substantially. The US will still be in for a rough time, because the GOP will not peacefully respect the results and again much of the country will still not see a Harris presidency as legitimate, no matter how many international observers attest that it is - as was the case for the last election.
But as for the long term, I for one am aware that we are possibly entrusting someone with the temperament and character of a Caligula with the nuclear codes. There may be no "long term". I can never forgive the American electorate for even flirting with this. And on that score, I am on the same page as any sentient, responsible parent on this planet.
Thanks for you clarification, Steve...it means a lot...as the Post switches to anticipated Obedience.
Spot on...
“The people run democratic governments, but fascist governments run the people.”
And Brecht suggested to the Communist East German government... that they should dissolve the people and elect another... Cfr. Die Lösung
Yes. Who knew that so many educated people would be without vision of what catastrophic actions can be expected from a mentally impaired cruel felon and his waiting in the wings VP? A horror show
Sadly, there are many Americans who think the Dems' accusation of fascism are exaggerated, just another partisan ploy. Oddly, one of the networks gave voice to a 40 something male who is voting for the first time, and it's for Trump. I also watched an NBC Charts episode last night where educated business types are voting Trump although they know his economy policies, namely cross the board tariffs and massive immigrant deportations, would be ruinous for the American economy, why it was ruminated, because they don't believe Trump would actually carry through. A LOT of Americans may think Washington is infected with "deep state" radical socialists as Trump rages on about, let alone the sheer to the roof invective he's hurtling at the "stolen election", by this date, quadrupling down on his Big Lie. And, face it, many Americans are indeed virtual Christian nationalists - "God and nation" esp white. And not just men.
Bonhoeffer was right, “under certain circumstances, people are made stupid or rather, they allow this to happen to them.” Propaganda works in the intellectually astute as well as the intellectually vapid. I feel a tinge of misogyny as well, in many who would be incensed at such a statement.
Saw and heard from a distance, the CN women about a week ago in DC.
Passionate, scary philosophy and group.
The power of your comment made me cry…literally cry. You have expressed all the fears I have been living with all these many months. I do not have faith in the common sense of the people to work for the common good of all people. When I look at all the younger people at the felon’s rallies who have fallen prey to his hateful rhetoric, I cry all over again. Hate is the legacy that the convicted felon leaves behind.
Thank you for your succinct summary of the core issues which must always be kept in mind as we walk through the next 2 weeks, 2 months, and decades hence. Here’s one grateful shoutout to the teachers who choose to light the way towards clarity in alarming times.
“We may have all come on different ships, but we’re all in the same boat now.”
- Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr
Thanks for reminding us of our history and the importance of the work we have yet to accomplish.
Eric Holder’s riff on Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous quote about justice:
"the arc...only bends toward justice because people pull it towards justice."
Most immediately, we each can be sharing widely Heather’s letter about fascism.
Yes, Ellie,
I just sent this to my nephew via his dad, my brother. My nephew has never served his country as his father and grandfather did. His life has been laid out for him with privilege at every turn. He proudly posts on Facebook his allegiance to Trump even as Trump’s closest appointees tell us what they know first-hand.
The freedoms and opportunities my nephew’s father and grandfather protected are still evolving within our democracy as that very democracy stands on the precipice.
Our country is not perfect. History has much to teach us as we continue to form that more perfect Union where we truly recognize our shared future with our brothers and sisters around the world.
Thank you and Heather and all the others here today for history’s clear warning faced by our GREAT USA in 2024. Let’s share this post far and wide!!
A good movie for your nephew to see is “Occupied City” by the director Steve McQueen or “Mississippi Burning” but it sounds like your nephew is locked in.
Mississippi Burning is great!!!
Some guys are more open to listening to a coach. Here is San Antonio Spurs Coach Greg Popovich on video and a sportswriter’s short article on what Coach Popovich observed about Trump:
https://pin.it/7AQ4z2Ki9
https://www.expressnews.com/sports/spurs/article/popovich-blasts-trump-setting-bad-example-19865604.php
Yes. Thanks, Ellie. Sharing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw-Hu9J2NiE
If there is an after-life and the Right Reverend Dr King still exists somewhere in it, may he and other saints of our lifetime come to our aid now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1LWVY0wwG4
From your keyboard to G*d’s screen
Thank you for the affirmation and a clever one at that, Susan.
Yes, just now reading Joy Reid’s Medgar and Merlie. I am 77 years old and I had no idea how bad it was in Mississippi; I mean I saw a lot of civil rights things in the news when I was in high school but still, the lived lives of Black people in the south… To live with so much fear and misery. It saddens me to my core. 🥲
Marina Inspiring quote. Hope the boat isn’t the Titanic.
🙏🏽
Brilliant, riveting essay, Ma'am. President Harris will win by five to seven percentage points in the popular vote and earn well over three hundred votes in the Electoral College. Please help me, a contrite conservative, to vote President Harris into the White House and to vote candidate Trump into jail. Please join me in thanking President Biden and thanking G-D for President Biden.
Ned, drove my ballot down to the county elections office last week—BallotTrax has notified me it was received and counted (I’d signed up for it several elections ago) and the county will send me election outcomes as they are available and then a final, official, count result. Felt great to vote for Harris/Walz & my Dem down ballot House/Senate reps (of whom I heartily approve). I have a large sign I made for the 2020 election on 1/4” plywood, about 3’x4’ that says “Democracy or Autocracy Our Choice Vote”. This year I hacked a 2020 Biden/Harris sign (I had a separate Harris/Walz sign up) & cut off Harris’s name & used contact paper to write “Thank Y❤️U Prez” at the top of the Biden name on the sign—then wrapped it in clear packing tape to be water-resistant—and screwed it in at a jaunty angle on my big homemade sign. So far I have had several passersby thank me for acknowledging Biden…sure felt like the right thing to do, so I did!
WOWERFUL content there, Barbara. Thank you for showing me the way, Ma'am.
An interesting article out of 'Daily Kos'. Mr Stevens is a Republican strategist for more moderate candidates, now R.I.N.O.es.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/10/26/2279881/-Stuart-Stevens-is-Extremely-Bullish-on-Kamala-Harris-s-Chances
WOW...I couldn't agree more with Stevens' analysis. Start counting votes with the Biden coalition in 2020. 81 million votes. Kamala has rightly and brilliantly held this coalition together. Just try to estimate how many votes she will add from young, first time voters, women and patriotic x-GOP voters. Aka, The Harris coalition. Then figure out how many voters Trump/Vance might pickup or lose. There aren't enough MAGA, zombie haters out there to defeat Harris/Walz. Not even close. Hilary won by 3 million votes, Biden by 7 million, Harris is likely to win by +10 million.
I wish I could post the meme, "Don't Call it a Comeback" with a zombie gimping along.
Thank you for this Ned.
You are welcome, MaryPat.
💙🙏💙
Sorry Ned, you need to put down the kool aid and start drinking clear water. If Harris wins the electoral college it will be by 2-10 votes at BEST. Any thing more than that will be a stunner. I am still predicting, based on the polls and other salient evidence that she will lose by 10-20 electoral votes. She will still get a majority of popular vote, but probably only 2-3% at best, slightly better than H Clinton, but much less than Biden. Misogyny coupled with racism is very likely to win the day at the finish line.
“polls and other salient evidence”
Big problem with the polls — the respondents are not representative of the demographics actually showing up to vote, and especially not at the voting center I work at in Texas, where they’re definitely not capturing the undeniably large youth vote and female vote.
“other salient evidence”?
Such as? The number of Democratic candidate yard signs / bumper stickers / T-shirts / caps / etc far outweigh those for Republican candidates. The number of people stopping me to tell me how they love my democratic candidate T-shirt, cap, car stickers grows exponentially as we get closer to Election Day. The credibility and volume of endorsements Harris has received compared to Trump plus the credibility and volume of criticism directed at Trump from to who know him best, speaks for itself.
In supposedly “deep red Texas” the support and enthusiasm for Kamala Harris and Colin Allred is palpable! No kool aid drinking here, just eyes wide open and l like what I’m seeing.
Let us hope and, if appropriate to each one of us only, pray that you are right on that one, S.A.T.
And of course it goes without saying that I hope sincerely that I am 100% wrong.
No, not drinking Kool Aid here. I am betting that M.A.G.A.s are over-represented in early voting, polls, and call-in shows that are non-partisan. They are more engaged and waging a defensively driven preemptive attack to create the impression of momentum. Of course, I may be way off; I often am. In any case, I remain optimistic because . . . I have to.
What is your prediction on house and senate?
I predict we (Dems) will recapture the House by 4-5 seats a very thin margin again (which illustrates how closely divided this country is). I predict we will lose the Senate by 2 seats (52-48 GOP). And I believe the White House is a coin flip which slightly favors Trump. Sigh...
Already above my pay-grade on the White House. So, I am up-in-the-air on that one. My hope is that, if candidate Trump gets voted into jail, more reasonable -- perhaps courageous -- Republicans will come to the fore to start righting the heavily listing ship of state.
I told you to stop drinking the kool aid Ned! LOL!
Extraordinary. It could have been written about exactly what we are seeing all around us today.
The formula for fascism is simple; solving it is hard.
EDIT: please read the replies below. They outshine this comment.
No, Ned -- it's easy.
Put humanities back in school, at their center. Include essay writing to see, respect, and draw on others as individuals. And throw out the standardized testers.
Talk about and question what really matters. To individual lives, to a free society.
Phil, J.L., and Barbara: agreed. By hard, I mean that it takes a lot of effort, like two generations *to right the constitutional culture listing under the weight of violence.
"a lot of effort," indeed, Ned.
For me the "hard" part is dealing with the self-satisfied among our intellectuals. They've gone to school and learned never to use any humanities (abstractions, catch-words, slogans, cliché all easily substitute). But because they see movies, hear music, and read novels, they assume they are equipped -- they assume they can use, apply them. When in fact most never do. They let their humanities remain sequestered on, in their passive side. Most never even attempt to make connections via our humanities.
So they cannot even begin to imagine the massive damages done to schools where the ruling, abstracting categorical and linear logic of standardized testing totally crowds out, snuffs out, excludes the humane of possible humanities.
How do we begin with this much needed revolution in our education structures ? I so agree with your take on the dire social consequences of our present Gradgrind children’s bootcamps. We would need a new army of, presently seen as rogue, educators to create the new structures and teach the teachers. Perhaps you could help draw up a Grand Plan ? 🐈⬛
The U.S. has the Fulbright program, and the Peace Corps, Monnina.
Both could begin to train cadres of instructors to teach (at various levels) how to see "others" as individuals.
First in a local classroom, where all write intro essays, then discuss them, then re-write to acknowledge others in the room and good ideas and key, analogous experiences they have had.
Essays then go in exchange swap to neighboring group of same-level students (different nationality, different race, different religious sect). Everyone reads intro essays of the neighbors, and writes back celebrating how different individuals among them handles things.
Thanks. That would be an easily created good start. I was so impressed by the generational economic and cultural opportunities and education created in California by the G.I. Bill when I was studying it’s local history. Especially visible in its music and engineering.
The latter being so successful that it has attracted the likes of Elon Musk who has exploited it like a fox in a henhouse. 🐈⬛
Phil, while my sentiment aligns 111% with yours. I disagree on your contention about novels. I have found that most non-fiction conveys facts and data while good fiction often engenders wisdom within the reader. Of course, I missed your point: good fiction gets the suicide squeeze by the 'metrics mania' like other humanities.
👍 right on!
By Nov 5
Defining it is famously hard. This Army pamphlet does a great job.
But past a certain point, it becomes pretty obvious, and yes, the Army managed a good outline.
As does the OSS psychological profile of Hitler in 1943.
Democracy is not a principle that we vote for every 4 years. It is a principle we must live and defend every day.
Baron Montesquieu basically said that for democracies to avoid sliding into anarchy and then authoritarianism, the citizens must live and breathe the democratic spirit every day. That does NOT mean a republic of virtue -- hello, reign or terror like that of Pol Pot -- but a republic of everyday men and women seeking a common destiny and blundering along a wide path, forward and more or less together.
In (preponderantly) good faith.
Yeah. That is the pre-condition AND the big 'if', J.D.
And very VERY difficult to achieve if the society is essentially split down the middle with both sides completely distrusting the other and no common ground for dialogue. Which is why I am so dejected that we are basically doomed. Even if Trump loses, we still face at least two years with a GOP led Senate (barring a highly unlikely change of course) and possibly 10 to 20 more years with a Supreme Court which will still have an agenda to help support Trump goals wherever possible.
Harris will have her work cut out for her and Walz will be of little help in that regard if the Senate is majority GOP. And by 2028 we very well may have a REAL revolt to an authoritarian GOP to throw Harris out.
And of course if Trump wins this election pray for the Flying Spaghetti Monster to save us. Because we obviously will have no way to save ourselves.
I hear you, Jon. I am older and physically fit. Live alone; never married. If there is to be fighting in the streets, I am ready. This summer I read a book written in 1964 and 1965 by Allen Drury -- or as my cousin said when plagued with 'Advise and Consent' for summer-bummer reading: Allen Dreary -- basically hypothesizing what a victory by Senator Goldwater would have looked like, at least in foreign policy.
https://www.amazon.com/Capable-Honor-Advise-Consent-3/dp/161475182X
The most valuable take-away for me from that hernial tome was the revelation that these chip-on-the-shoulder right-wingnuts have been around for a much longer time than I had realized. De-industrialization upped the game in the 1980s. Though flawed, crass, and boorish, candidate Trump is baptizing himself in that deep ground-water of rancour coming to the surface.
I read the entire Advise and consent series when I was in my 20s (back in the 70s).. What fascinated me was watching how Drury went from a slightly left of center Democratic supporter in the original book to an almost reactionary right winger ala Trump by the time he wrote Capable of Honor and the two final books (Come Nineveh Come Tyre and Promise of Joy).
He was very affected by the rise of power of the Soviet Union and deeply disliked and mistrusted communism. That can be seen if you read the entire Ad/Con series which is a total of six books as well as his later related books like Anna Hastings.
As a young and fanciful communist myself it was difficult to understand why he made the progression from ALMOST being a leftist to being almost pro Joe McCarthy. I am still not sure I totally understand it and if course he is gone now. But that series of books is definitely insightful into how people in the 50s/60s/early 70s were thinking then. A great series for any person who is seriously interested in the political evolution of the United States.
Well, my shot-in-the-dark guess would be that he understood what was really happening in the U.S.S.R. and found the continuing denial by fellow lefties to be unbearable.
I would also point out that my communist leanings were not necessarily pro- Soviet leanings but rather a belief in Marxism (Karl not Groucho!) as a basic economic philosophy. I still believe it is the best path for the average person who is not wealthy (ie most people in the world) but I also understand the limits of being able to implement it equitably and universally.
The sad part is that some people, like the Trump supporter who thought we needed dictatorship simply want to be relieved of the burden of thinking and to have someone else make decisions on their behalf. They have only themselves to blame when the inevitable disaster hits.
That comes from a high level of suffering across the Midwest, South, and plains states where many people likely feel they have been left behind and ignored. That is the danger of candidate Trump for me: he preaches a politics of vengeance . . . but, ¿against whom? We are seeing scape-goating in a real way in real time.
But the Reagan’s, wear such attractive clothing. And spout such subtle lies. As was quoted, wrapped in a flag and carrying a Bible.
You're exactly right. That's been my biggest lesson of all through all of this Trump madness. Democracies must be protected and cherished...By everyone.
All of which begs the question what do we do if that fails us? When half the people in the country no longer even care enough to act sensibly? What then? Civil War? That worked (sort of) when the weaponry at the disposal of the people were almost the same as what was at the disposal of the armed forces. That of course is no longer true.
Secession? Highly unlikely. We have historical precedent that secession should never be permitted.
I apologize for making this so down spirited but I believe we are only a week or so away from having to actually start really looking at these issues and figuring out what to do.
Jon — someone has to say it. I keep thinking about how the Right has been organizing and working toward this moment for decades, while the Left has cherry-picked issues to be upset about and focus on. Will the results of this election finally help us get off our duffs and organize?
The big risk is "too little too late". I seriously fear that Trump will be successful in his authoritarian takeover and it may be generations before the "ship of state" can be unsunk.
We're going to win...
Good luck with that. Nothing at all suggests this is true other than being a "true believer". I sure hope you are right but I am pretty sure you are wrong.
Precisely. A society governed by and for the people. If we don't do it, who will?
But if half plus one of the people want a radically different country, then what? Government by the people so requires the people and I believe we are going to face some bitter truths the day after election day.
well said, thank you...
"Democracy is not a spectator sport"
This is so appropriate, Dear Professor. Somewhere I might stil have a copy of that War Department pamphlet. From many decades ago.
If any of you have not read Robert Reich's post of Oct. 25 in the afernoon about meeting Henry Wallace as a child, I will paste en excerpt he included from the Aug. 9, 1944 New York times written by Wallace:
"A fascist is one whose lust for money or power is combined with such an intensity of intolerance toward those of other races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions, or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit or violence to attain his ends.…
The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money or more power.…
It has been claimed at times that our modern age of technology facilitates dictatorship. What we must understand is that the industries, processes, and inventions created by modern science can be used either to subjugate or liberate. The choice is up to us.…
The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. Their newspapers and propaganda carefully cultivate every fissure of disunity, every crack in the common front against fascism. They use every opportunity to impugn democracy. They use isolationism as a slogan to conceal their own selfish imperialism.… They claim to be superpatriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interests.…
Still another danger is represented by those who, paying lip service to democracy and the common welfare, in their insatiable greed for money and the power which money gives, do not hesitate surreptitiously to evade the laws designed to safeguard the public from monopolistic extortion.…
Monopolists who fear competition and who distrust democracy because it stands for equal opportunity would like to secure their position against small and energetic enterprise. In an effort to eliminate the possibility of any rival growing up, some monopolists would sacrifice democracy itself….
Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection."
There were those who saw things clearly back then. The progressives of us spent too many years basking in the laurels of our victories of the 60s and early70s, while RUST NEVER SLEEPS, if you know what I mean. Time to commit to keeping our machine cleaned and well lubed.
Wow, spot on.
Curious, how might you have the pamphlet?
I have some interesting ones due to my parents having kept such things (and having lived to 98 and a currently alive 100), but not this one. I do have a lovely 1938 War Production Board "Books are weapons in the war of ideas" one. The collection is pretty random!
Rust never sleeps, profound
Neil Young liked it too. Here’s the album, Rust Never Sleeps. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSzQ5tXtxOEYqkSwew-J2hbwIwuhh1dY9
Thanks, missed that one. Ride My Llama has got to be a good one. I love llamas. I’d like to spit on some critters too. They know how to express displeasure…
🤣
This series of pamphlets was written by my father. I haven’t looked at them in a long time. Thank you so much. He would be rolling in his grave to see what is happening now.
Wow, what a fortuitous connection. I’m sure Heather would appreciate hearing this, but she won’t find your comment here. You could email her, DM her on Facebook, or maybe message her on X Twitter.
Good idea. Thank you so much for the suggestion!
Thank you and your father.
He was an able truth teller and his powerful written words carry that truth across time.
Thank you for your kind words!
I'm just dropping here that your copy is worth more than might first suggest. The link in the notes up above goes to the Internet Archive site, and is functional...today. But the Archive has been hacked and recently was offline for awhile, and could be again. So physical copies are increasingly critical records.
For those who have not gone to the Archive site, it allows for download of a pdf version so you can have a digital copy on your computer to read offline.
Note: I have no association with the Archive except I send them a few dollars to support their work when I can.
Molly, what's your father's name?
Wow, Molly. Now I’m curious to read his other writings. What a way with words.
“[w]e once laughed Hitler off as a harmless little clown with a funny mustache.”
Or an ineffectual side show act with an orangish skin and a funny combover.
And calling him an ordinary little man was a sin that could not be tolerated (from LFAA 10-21-24). Calling chump a clown is something he will not forget.
Could not be more appropriate , we have two choices in the next ten days. This should be read and pronounced on all multi media until voting day. Thank you Heather
And shared by us widely. This information on the fascism our fathers, uncles, and grandfathers fought against is what softens the persuadable Independents and reasonable Republicans.
My father,(sadly now deceased) like so many others, fought in France and Germany in WWII. Often wakened by nightmares of what he experienced, he spoke little of what he saw. What he did discuss with all of us was THIS…exactly what Heather shared tonight. The dangers of fascism. He knew this awareness was important for his children. Many spirited political conversations were held around our dining room table, especially when extended family came to visit.
I miss his insight and wish he was here today to tell us all the truth of what he and his band of brothers fought against.
It harkens a movie from the 1940s, The Best Years of our Lives. The scene in the diner when a flag-pin-wearing man questions the brave WWII veterans about their sacrifices (was it worth it?). A fight ensues, with the veteran pulling the flag pin off of the lapel of the fascist-loving creep.
https://youtu.be/D4EjRzzRQLI
Thanks for this letter, Heather! We can NEVER FORGET…We can’t go back…We won’t go back! 💙
Thanks, Kari. I’m in tears. And sharing.
And shared by us widely, and even after this election. We’ve learned painfully how little we can rely on the media.
This is sad because it is NOT the media that has led us here. It is the people on the right who don't mind giving up on democracy coupled with the people on the left (us) who wore blinders and refused to look dispassionately at where we were heading and demand that our leaders do what was needed to avoid it early enough to make a difference. We can all applaud for Harris but I do not believe it was the BEST option we might have had if Biden hadn't been so fool hardy and appropriately stepped aside a year ago. That is of course water under the bridge but it doesn't change the reality.
Joe Scarborough frequently.entertained Trump for hours in 2015 on the phone. JOE even said "golly, there's something about him that reminds me of Jack Kennedy."
So, the.media gave.birth to this beast, and nurtured it like a little baby. So, you're wrong.
No you're wrong. Trump was famous long before Joe Scarborough even knew who he was. And even before The Apprentice. But none of that is the point. The media isn't "in charge". The media reflects what the people want and seek. If you haven't learned that then you are as ignorant as the masses. It is the people who get what they want and deserve.
You hit the bull's eye, Christopher, Pretty damnably stark, ¿is it not?
Trouble is, I don't believe many Americans care about fascist leaders like Trump and his GOP cronies. They will willingly vote for a leader who would take away our democracy as he pretends to defend it against the "enemy within." They willingly embrace all his lies about our terrible economy, evil immigrants, and "taking our country back" I believe Trump will lose this election. but that won't change the fact that three are a lot of ignorant, stupid people in this country who don't give a damn about protecting our country from would-be tyrants like Trump. I hope they will lose badly this time.
Having talked to many friends and family who side with the MAGA crowd, I believe it comes down to that age-old conundrum: security or freedom.
There is enough fear in this country to capitalize off of; if you exploit the underlying fears of a population through disinformation, misinformation, propaganda, etc. then of course they will pick security over freedom, which they have been lead to believe is "under attack". They will even be willing to COMPROMISE their current freedom in order to protect a "larger" or "more important" freedom.
As the Jedi say, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to the Dark Side.
We are fighting fear - this fear is misplaced, undoubtedly, but it has also gone unaddressed long enough that it has festered and become anger, fermented into hate. And now we have to convince people who did not even KNOW they were afraid that they are compromising freedom and democracy for a false security.
After speaking with all my MAGA family and friends, all I can really say is that many of them would really benefit from some rigorous therapy. There's a lot of repressed emotion, trauma, and abuse that many of them of offloading without knowing it.
I demur, TJB, when you say "this fear . . . has also gone unaddressed long enough . . .."
Not quite. I can list for you a whole raft of novels, films, memoirs, and songs which very aptly addressed the fear residing in tens of millions of our working-class neighbors who got their jobs offshored, and who never understood what hit them.
These fears of theirs by very, very fine artists were very, very well addressed.
Greater problem, TJB, has been how the Powell memo far-right foundations -- before they did the decades'-long offshoring -- first killed humanities in schools. So Americans were learning never to see, never to imagine seeing, the great resources that were in fact there.
And with standardized testing having taken over, the conceits of abstracting all life (by categories, by the units and chronologies of linear logic) hammered final nails in the humanities coffin, the humane possibilities in us we lost.
As you say, an illusion of security. An illusion of innate supremacy. In actuality security and real freedom are inseparable. By solidarity and an empowering, lawful society we maximize freedom for a society, for real freedom is not uncountable predation, but universal rights, which means rights that must not be violated by others. freedom is both freedom to and freedom from, AKA security borne of solidarity and just rule of law. The "Four Freedoms" among others. The right to walk down the street and be relatively confident of making it home in safety.
" — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men (sic), deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,"
Interesting. Deploying your analysis of what a free lawful society entails any form of fascism could equally be called a Mobster’s Charter. Social justice being seen to be done from the highest to the lowest, the performance of the right rule of law in our daily lives, is the living foundation stone of democracy.
Organized crime is organized to intimidate and, of course to live like kings on the backs of others. I displays all the earmarks of a despotic government except for possessing "official" powers; and those it manipulates by bending the law and those who craft and enforce it. It is a parasite that feeds on government incompetence and corruptibility, a power, if not THE power behind the throne, reminiscent of our US oligarchy. Trump was reportedly cozy with organized crime from early on https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/donald-trump-2016-mob-organized-crime-213910/
It seems to me that power over people can be roughly divided into love, decency and persuasion, as well as money, status and violence. The latter is not always evil, money is a medium of exchange, official status in the form of entrusted responsibilities is necessary, and I think (as a last resort) even measured violence is is a fit response to a clear and present attack; but in a corrupted society the last three become extreme, interchangeable and hostile to our "better angels". Human on human predation is our constant and most devastating, even species-wide existential enemy.
Agreed. Marcel Mauss’ The Gift (on the social good of material exchange) and some work the name of which I have forgotten on Love and Law in the Middle Ages, wherein love was deemed the most important moral truth informing social justice, were important in forming my present views.
Yes. A lot of therapy needed. And kindness.
Our technological cleverness keeps exceeding our wisdom, and is itself a threat. We a running out of time to understand our own very complicated individual and social human nature. We animals are the only sentient beings in the universe, so far as we know, and owing to the speed-limit of light, may ever encounter. Our lives and logical/sensual awareness is a gift beyond measure, yet we still allow our primitive ego's to royally frick it up. Honesty about ourselves, and to ourselves, might still save us, while lies and delusion are killers.
Thousands of years ago a marker was installed at the Temple at Delphi:
Inscribed on a column in the pronaos (forecourt) of the temple were an enigmatic
"E" and three maxims:[46][47]
Know thyself
Nothing to excess
Surety brings ruin, or "make a pledge and mischief is nigh" (ἐγγύα πάρα δ'ἄτα)[48] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythia
Of course, the fact it was said does not make it true, but it seems to me they were on to something. All three seem to warn of hubris.
As for kindness, It has somehow always seemed to me that this was the overriding recommendation of Jesus, and just plain makes good sense.
TJB, you write what I see in my MAGAt cohort of retired cop friends. They are absolutely convinced that Christianity is under attack and is being shunted aside for “inclusion”. They think marriage is “under attack because gay people can marry. They believe that Mexican immigrants are stealing jobs from “honest white people.” They are convinced that transgender people are ruining children. They are fearful and angry; a bad combination.
The appalling statements by Stephen Miller, Steven Cheung,, Karoline Leavitt and the rest of the campaign toadies are horrifying & full of hate. They are truly frightening.
Thank you very much. This is spot on.
Thank you, Dr. Richardson. It occurs to me that Trump and his MAGA Republicans have ticked every box. They have passed the Fascist exam. My question is, WHO ARE WE? Collectively, we are creating the future to come for all those we love, who will exist after us. We are truly on the edge here, truth or lies, liberty and justice for all or corruption, peaceful coexistence or violence, civility and respect or mockery and hatred, accepted caste system and social hierarchy based on ethnicity and wealth or level field of opportunities based on skill and work ethic. Patriotism has become a word twisted into a tool that any speaker can use for intended purpose. Personally, I more often find it repugnant as used by the elected Republicans actively or passively moving us from democracy into fascism because their ideas on governance have proven unhelpful and therefore unpopular with the American people overall. In a fascist system they won’t need approval of citizen voters. They will only need to be obedient to succeed personally. So, all these words to say….this is not a normal election in which policies that will most benefit the country are on the debate table. We know who Donald Trump is. We know what the once respectable, responsible Republican Party has become as MAGA extremist have prevailed and truth speakers have been expelled. We are clear and concerned about what the Republican Party represents currently. They are liars, cowards, not protective of the American people and our children. This is the moment we show one another ‘who we are’. Are we decent? Are we honest? Are we good people? Do we believe in science, in those speaking to us from certified expertise or does any old con artist with an axe to grind have just as much influence? The world is watching. History is holding its breath, historians waiting to write the truth or lies that will be told to coming generations. WHO ARE WE? I suppose the results of this election will answer.
thank you we do have a choice in our vote...who are we? will those who are convinced for T. be able to change?
I strongly doubt it.
Never.
Thank you for this slice of history. I’m seeing in my mind’s eye a picture of a man who hugs the flag while, according to the man closest to him in the White House, is a fascist and the most flawed person that he’s ever met.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/22/us/politics/john-kelly-trump-fitness-character.html
https://thehill.com/homenews/news/521507-john-kelly-called-trump-the-most-flawed-person-hes-ever-met-report/amp/
Thank you Dr. Richardson. Wow, great post.
Reading this, I was saying to myself Check, Check, Check.
It's so blatant now. Right there in the open. And it's frightening.
Trump may like Hitler, but Dr Seuss knew better. You might enjoy a look at a bunch of Seuss' anti-fascist cartoons from WWII https://forgottenfiles.substack.com/p/seusss-satirical-war-on-fascism
Wow, I had no idea that Dr. Seuss produced this anti-fascist material. It packs a punch! Thank you.
Thank you for sharing here! Seuss’s work was tireless! Thank you, too, for talking about his racism and ability to move away from it.
We never thought it could happen here. And yet, it has.
It was happening here before December 7, 1941. The brains of humans are susceptible to this trap based on millions of years of evolution. Only since 1776 did we become so self aware to think it can be overcome.
It requires stubborn determination.
The Founders sadly set up a system where the oligarchs would be in charge by having an Electoral College.
When I was in the Navy (1974-1979) our command sponsored those of us who had high-level security clearances to go to a day-long sort of conference/training on fascism, socialism, communism, the similarities and differences between those ideologies and democracy, and part of that training involved how certain bad actors from countries with those ideologies might approach us trying to get classified information. I have never forgotten that training; it had a huge impact on me then and today. The orange monster and his lesser sidekicks are the epitome of what I was to look out for. Sadly, I think fascism is alive and thriving in the Republican party.
The training I went to nearly 50 (!) years ago could very well have been based on the pamphlets Heather talks about here.
Remarkable how this was history in the eyes of the military. The difference today is amplification of fascism by extreme wealth, conveyed to child and parent by electronic media...one day so small and convenient, the next so captivating, limiting, and finally enslaving.
Electronic media is indeed a vast global megaphone. It is exposing a very dark societal underbelly and an equally ugly ruling class to all of us. Drawing upon Baum’s classic satirical political allegory , The Wizard of Oz, with Rupert Murdoch & Corporate media as the weak but wicked wizards wielding the megaphone, I think we are seeing individuals being driven crazy by unchecked and widespread cruel mistreatment accordingly turning into screaming raging flying monkeys or going into retreat from everything 🙊🙉🙈
NBA coach Greg Popovich (former Air Force Intelligence ran spies in Cold War) explains WONDERFULLY why Trump is a disaster. I'm finding it easier to persuade people after they take a look at this. https://x.com/theoquintard/status/1850313411990581607?s=46
Coach Popovich nails it! I so admire people who can spontaneously articulate their deep understanding of an issue. Thank you for sharing!
Hi 100Panthers - The audio volume is very low on this posting from TwitterX, and no close captioning. I wish it was better, then I could use it for an educational Election promo on Facebook.
re: ERASING HISTORY by JASON STANLEY
The comment I posted earlier about how our culture of designing newer history books that skew our younger generations education be more of a critical race theory. Is the United States becoming an exceptional grand nation whose exceptionality is due to its "patriotic education" of white Christian heterosexual men, who have "deeds of great men" define our nation from our previous Democracy which is based on Equality and Freedom?
I'm afraid the younger generations may be loyal to Trump and JD, and not realize why they are going to vote Red in November.
The people asking questions are near microphones. Once coach speaks, and microphone gets adjusted, its plenty decent.
Damn he nails it. Confession: Not being NBA savvy I had to look him up. I’m sharing this widely. Thank you!
Coach Pop is awesome, on and off the court! Gift article, wonderful “popisms”!
https://www.expressnews.com/sports/spurs/article/popovich-blasts-trump-setting-bad-example-19865604.php?utm_content=hed&sid=5d9dfd847e555433411ca2cc&ss=A&st_rid=dfc5b33c-0ddd-4f92-8066-f78142acd822&utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_term=subs_old&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZXhwcmVzc25ld3MuY29tL3Nwb3J0cy9zcHVycy9hcnRpY2xlL3BvcG92aWNoLWJsYXN0cy10cnVtcC1zZXR0aW5nLWJhZC1leGFtcGxlLTE5ODY1NjA0LnBocA%3D%3D&time=MTczMDAzNDc2Njc0MA%3D%3D&rid=ZGZjNWIzM2MtMGRkZC00ZjkyLTgwNjYtZjc4MTQyYWNkODIy&sharecount=Mg%3D%3D
That is just Excellent. Thank you!
He nailed chump. So hope his words resonate with the young. What a guy…
Just as Hitler was a harmless little man with a funny mustache, t is a grotesque orange creature who rants, slurs and babbles. As Hitler preyed on resentments and historical anti “other”ism, so t and his maggotry have secured the devotion of nearly half the American population. And as always, we are at the mercy of an archaic Constitutional electoral system and some 1/3 of our people who just can’t be bothered to vote. To be honest, I am terrified.
But I don't believe the polls. It's part of the propaganda. What is certain that the election is going to show what the true will of the people is, in reality. Know where your friends are. Be prepared.
I hope you are right but am pretty sure you are misguided here. You can't stick your head in the sand and say "I know it will be different". The evidence is pretty stark. The polls aren't propaganda. They are a pretty reliable source of advance data. Data isn't biased. Unless it is intentional lies (which it almost certainly isn't) it is simply an attempt to quantify reality. You don't have to like that reality but denying it is almost always folly.
I wish you luck with that. I think you are going to need it, sigh.
Sigh. But, Mark Twain knocking at my window. "Lies, damned lies, and statistics."
Had a chat with a Millennial today. Decent guy, recent immigrant, grandmother still not a citizen but living here legally. Totally clueless about Trump, Harris, issues even on immigration! He is from one the countries Trump wants to send back to Latin America! He said lots of his friends are thinking of not voting also, are equally ignorant. GOOD! STAY HOME! After all the lies, cheating, 400,000 excess Covid deaths because it was a hoax, plans for a military tribunals for enemies who deny The Big Lie...if you either A-have no idea these facts exist or B-you know these facts but are still undecided THEN STAY HOME, don't vote! I'd rather have a non-voter than a random selection based on 'vibes' by the ignorant!
Same here Marilyn. Beyond.
"When anybody preaches disunity, tries to pit one of us against the other through class warfare, race hatred, or religious intolerance, you know that person seeks to rob us of our freedom and destroy our very lives."
Expanded quote from one of the songs I've been listening to on repeat, "Currents" by Bastille. It is poignant, I feel, especially right now.
Your first paragraph is all one needs to know.
This election is only part of the problem. 147 members of Congress, including the current Speaker participated in an attempted coup.
We’ve got big challenges ahead, no matter the outcome.
All with our MAGA controlled SCOTUS!
Nothing more needs to be said.
Did anyone else see Trump at the podium in Traverse City? He was not wearing his familiar blue suit and red tie. Instead, his suit was black; his tie gold. His cap also black with his familiar slogan lettered in gold. A new and powerful visual has been created.
I wondered if you meant yellow gold or orange or... but no - you mean gold as in gold metal. I wonder what the significance is? He may be trying to evoke a religious figure such as a priest and a halo reference. I suppose his cult would see it that way. I just wonder if maybe he fouled his blue suit on the way there. He was three hours late, after all.
Gold coloring is normally used to denote affluence, wealth, and material success.
Black is generally used for solemnity, authority, and formality/sophistication.
I can only assume that he is trying to push his image as a successful, big-time businessman who is rich, confident, and carries a certain gravitas.
Despite his many business failures, the revelation of his many bankruptcies, and the abject dissonance of his "media" and "real" persona, many people I've spoken with still seem to believe Trump to have those qualities.
He is probably attempting to double down and cement those qualities by wearing certain colors the same way someone may choose to wear blue rather than red to an interview - colors have subliminal meanings.
Also the hat has nothing to do with baseball - it's a commander's hat - and it hides that hair.
Perhaps he should just dress like Cartman. "I do what I want!"
Oh yes. We noticed.
Lipstick on a pig, still an empty suit…
It’s the “Dark MAGA” personage introduced by Elon Musk.
Right then, history rhymes. Apparently it also alliterates and dabbles no little bit in assonance.
I have been trying to write a dystopian novel but can not keep up with reality. 😉
Take it from a former librarian, this kind of thing is heck on the folks in technical services, when all the Dystopian Fiction has to be reclassified as Current Events.
Outstanding come-back there, J.J.!
you can take part of the credit, Ned: it's easy when I get an excellent set-up like that.
J.J.,in volleyball, I was known as "the Irish setter". 😊 Needless to say, with your surname, you slake my thirst for humor. 🤭
This letter is a service to our country. Thank you, Heather.
Thank you, Professor Richardson, for today's brief history of fascism and for explaining why we should all be aware of this threat. I have a feeling that the following tactic is another example of what is in the fascist's toolbox. What do you think? Having gone to the trouble earlier this year of reaffirming my American voter registration as an overseas resident of Japan, voting, and mailing in my ballot a month in advance -- all of which takes time and effort -- I was alarmed to see this Axios article in my feed this morning. First, the timing of this challenge, which could disenfranchise me (and prevent me from voting in this year's election in the U.S.) and approximately 3 million of my fellow Americans living abroad, could not be worse. It is clearly a tactic to create confusion among overseas voters and is yet another transparent tactic to intimidate potential voters, restrict voting rights, and suppress voter turnout. Second, it is a slap in the face to all Americans who happen to live overseas -- both people in the military and others like me who are just regular citizens. All Americans should condemn this action by the cowardly Republicans who have filed lawsuits challenging the validity of ballots cast overseas.
https://www.axios.com/2024/10/24/gop-challenge-overseas-military-ballots
Why on earth didn't this pamphlet become part of the school curriculum in every school in America from the fall of 1945 and continuing through today. The military in WW2 were not the only ones who should have been informed. Everybody needs to know. My father informed me (not at the length and depth of this pamphlet) of what fascism was when I was 6 years old, and I read the newspapers too.
Had Americans been uniformly informed we wouldn't be teetering on the brink of losing our democracy in 11 short days. I sent this to my relatives and posted on Facebook. Thank you for giving this to us Dr. Richardson
It would be great if we could get all Americans to read this letter. So many dark forces are conspiring to destroy our country, it is frightening to think about. I hope a majority of Americans will vote for Harris. But I am not sure I have enough faith left in my fellow Americans to see the truth and not believe the lies. A good friend of mine hates Trump but told me today she voted for him because she is against abortion. We live in TN, a state with one of the strictest abortion bans with no exceptions. I told her there had to be exceptions to protect the life of the mother. She said nothing which indicated to me that she is not pro life only pro birth. But even if Harris wins, TN will never change unless we get rid of our republican super majority. I can hope women in TN rise up and vote some democrats into the state house.
Heather... THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS! Reading this publication makes me wish I was living during the time of WWII... because our government and the vast majority of the America people were really "clear eyed" about the world in which they lived... both abroad and here at home. I will share the information you have given us tonight widely... inviting all who say they love "the greatest generation" to read it.
I also wish to offer you and your readers this additional, fascinating bit of WWII history... the 18 minute film made by the US Government (with Hollywood's help) to encourage young men to enlist in the Army Air Corps (the precursor to the Air Force).
At the beginning of the war, America needed thousands of pilots, radio operators, and other skills soldiers willing to "boldly go where not enough Americans had gone before"... into the air (and supporting those going there)! It is my dream that Kamala Harris, once elected, asks Hollywood to help her communicate just how much we Americans can do once we stop fighting with each other and come together as one nation seeking "liberty and justice for all".
Here from WWII is "Winning Your Wings," featuring real Army Air Corps pilot Jimmy Stewart!
https://youtu.be/lnxyCgdhSBw?si=5SB_fwErlJ3cSjQk&t=8
If I were living during World War II, my crush on Jimmy Stewart would have been insufferable! Thank you for sharing!
I’m so happy you watched “Winning Your Wings”! I am a huge Jimmy Stewart fan too… even went to his home town of Indiana, PA to visit the Jimmy Stewart Museum!
Please, don’t forget the rounding up of Japanese-Americans and placing them in concentrations camps.
Thank for mentioning this. I’m not forgetting the internment camps. In fact, I’ve met George Takei and have his books plus the DVD of “Allegiance”. But the point of my post was to suggest that Hollywood can help Kamala Harris achieve her goal of bringing America together. Thanks again for raising this point. We were an imperfect nation during WWII in many ways. Perhaps the next time I talk about that era I’ll include what we did that still was bad.
I have George Takei’s childrens book “My Lost Freedom”. And he is one of my heroes! One of my favorite films is The Best Years of Our Lives. I watch it every time it is on TCM.
I sent this to the WAPO today:
bruce klassen <bruceklassen@gmail.com>
7:56 AM (11 minutes ago)
to letters
To the fine reporters and writers at the “WAPO” I send you these three Haikus to reflect upon in these troubled times, when you must raise your voices against the Oligarch or the Darkness will envelope you too. Time to speak out:
Democracy's light
Dimmed by Bezos' silence now
Darkness encroaches
Post's voice muted, still
Endorsement withheld, readers
Mourn truth's retreat here
Principles forsaken
Washington Post's legacy dims
Freedom's flame flickers
Bruce Klassen
If only reading that pamphlet were a pre-requisite for voting in this election.
You cannot have a fascist state without the military. The American military does not owe its allegiance to the President, it owes its allegiance to the Constitution. One thing is very clear tRump does not have nor will he ever have the military on his side.
As long as there are more Mark Milleys and fewer Michael Flynns (who should be stripped of all veteran benefits and dishonorably discharged).
The reality is there are more Kellys than Flynns. I do not know if you have noticed or heard the numerous statements by tRump denigrating soldiers and calling them suckers and losers. Do you actually believe or even think they would support him. He denigrates them because he knows they won't.
The picture couldn’t be any clearer yet some are laughing off the big clown with the orange toupee. The entire world is watching in disbelief that the choice for America has come to this, democracy or fascism. The Republican party should never be forgiven for this.
I never forgave them for W/Dickie
The eighty-million people in America who like or love and who will vote for trump need to read that pamphlet.
Normal life, so ordinary that it is invisible, can be profoundly changed starting on Day One, less than two weeks from now.
In the face of the coming fascist precipice and possible vanishing of their country, they celebrate at rallies for the strongman, just as they did on the Nazi Party Rally Grounds in 1933 Nuremberg.
That pamphlet belongs on millions of kitchen tables, on tv ads, on radio, billboards, even in newspaper editorials...those with the courage to stand for country.
Thank you Dr. Richardson for your invaluable, wonderfully-researched history lessons for all.
Brilliant! Using the US Army’s own description of what is transpiring in our nation this very day. The pamphlet might have also mentioned that a fascist government will use the army, intended for defense against foreign enemies, against its own citizens to intimidate the populace and institutions, (hello Washington Post!) to further force the will of the few over the many.
Seig hiel, baby!
Would that we could print copies of today’s Letter and scatter them from the ceiling in all the MAGA “rallies” from now until Election Day.
We can scatter this Letter far and wide among our family, friends, colleagues, and social media!
Third attempt - this post keeps vanishing - Michelle Obama's speech at Kalamazoo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtQqGOOLh8o
Loved it:
“It is reasonable to be frustrated. But to anyone out there thinking about sitting out this election or voting for Donald Trump...let me warn you, your rage does not exist in a vacuum. Your wife, your daughter, your mother, we as women will become collateral damage to your rage.”
~ Michelle Obama on 10/26/24
It was one for the ages.
Super wise of Heather to dig up this document from WWII identifying fascism.
It "thrives on indifference and ignorance,” Heather notes opening her concluding para.
Yes. The Powell memo in 1971 started this as it ginned up its first far-right foundations -- with the first several years' efforts to remove humanities from U.S. education. Once humanities could be rid, the proto-fascists then could be sure U.S. schools would be teaching all to be humanly indifferent.
Next step, ignorance. This came assured with the imposition of standardized testing as the single-largest ghoul leaching all U.S. schools. As the 1970s passed into the 1980s, the logical conceits of standardized testing were two: the categorical and the linear. Both promoted life as abstracted only. And lifeless. Human beings became seen as extinct as nuanced individuals. Natural life became just a series (or more) of units all in chronological, repetitive, causal order. Everyone could be satisfactorily ignorant of life's complications, surprises, serendipities, contradictions, and features that rhymed, ran parallel, and dipped and rose into and out of view, as real human memories were wont to do.
America is beset with fascism. The Powell memo and its far-right apparatuses guaranteed it. Guaranteed that the filthy rich few could school all away from humanities, away from democracy, indifferent to what we'd lost, ignorant of the great traditions and human, humane dynamism we'd had.
Elon Musk worked illegally in our country.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/10/26/elon-musk-immigration-status/
Can the US deport him to South Africa and seize his ill begotten gains?
Send Rupert packing too
And if students still had a civics class in their junior or senior high school curriculum, they might know this, which is why our home grown fascists want to eliminate the Dept of Education and are beating down public schooling.
This is so close, too close. We can use the tool given to us and vote to save our democracy. Then, the really hard work begins. How did we get here? There are a lot of things we’ve done right and wrong. Sorting through it and crafting a better future will be worth the effort.
Terrifying!
So perfect for right now and so terrifying. How long has this been going on? Did Trump’s election in 2016 just set the stage, or was that planned? It’s hard for me to imagine that anyone could have predicted his behavior so well ahead of time. Could he himself have been manipulated? Interesting questions and scary thoughts on top of the usual ones right now.
This modern version all started with Reagan and was strengthened by Newt Gingrich’s divisive reign as the House Speaker. The “Tea Party” formalized the system and Orange guy was just in the right place at the right time to pick up the baton.
Even I knew at 17 (I was not old enough to vote) that Reagan was going to destroy the middle class, and he did. I didn’t know then what I now know, but it was evident to me then even though it was hard for me to express how I knew this. I disliked Reagan, although I didn’t have the disgust for him that I later had for George W. Bush, and my even deeper loathing for Trump.
Back in the early 1990s I read a book by the now deceased Village Voice writers Jack Newfield and Wayne Barrett that detailed Donald Trump’s real estate scams and showed how Trump was financing his rich lifestyle at the expense of his creditors, even though Fred Trump Sr. was financing his son’s real estate ventures at the time. I think at that time Donald hadn’t burned through Daddy’s cash. Fred probably also had no idea that his prized son Donald was a know it all incompetent who prized himself on his “gut,” which continually led him undertake failed financial ventures. Donald Trump was the only person incompetent enough to lose money running a casino in Atlantic City. This was before his six or so business bankruptcies, which caused his American lenders to receive significant losses on his loans and caused Wall Street to cease lending money to Trump. So yes, some of us out in the sticks knew Donald was a poseur and scammer.
I took an instant dislike to Trump from the minute he stepped into the presidential race. I never liked the man, but I really grew to detest him as I saw him progress through the 2016 election. The Democrats made a poor choice in deciding to run Hillary Clinton. She was actually competent and intelligent, but the Republicans succeeded in their character assassination of Ms. Clinton to the point of making her look like she was Lady Macbeth in a pantsuit and a suitable target for their misogyny. She didn’t help matters by encouraging people to hope Trump was the candidate, as she lacked the ability to see how it would backfire badly on her. The broadcast media outlets didn’t help by giving Trump tons of free publicity in coverage, ignoring the public interest in the service of ratings.
I’m genuinely concerned that Trump may snatch the election and use illegal methods to place himself into office as president, despite his decreasing cognitive abilities and blunt statements that he wants to be a dictator and that “we won’t have to worry about voting again.”
Manipulator out-manipulated by Putin’s Kremlin operatives, and then vaulted onto the American political stage by moneyed Greenwich Republicans with the help of malignant opportunists like Steve Bannon.
Puppet. It's the only explanation for his arrival in the White House. It was a TV setting to him. Remember the huge signatures, turned around to the cameras, the applauding sycophants?
Of course Trump is being manipulated!!!
Those in his shadows realized in 2015 how dumb he is and how easily he could be manipulated into thrusting their message down the throats of the ensuing cult. He’s a puppet.
Unfortunately for them, his stupidity is unraveling their messages, thus the cancellation of all but the friendliest interviews such as Joe Rogan the sycophant.
Rachel Maddow's book "Prequel" describes how German and American Nazis expended millions to destabilize American society in the 1930s and push pro-German public opinion. American fascists were real and dangerous. It was so bad that certain members of Congress took money in exchange for inserting pro-fascist speeches in the Congressional Record and giving American fascists franking (i.e. free mailing) privileges for distributing their messages to the public. HCR has it right.
Here are two interview's about a book called 'Erasing History' by author JASON STANLEY.
It describes how important textbooks play an enormous role in authoritarianism, why certain history books are being banned in schools and colleges, this great replacement theory is the core of the message of MAGA Republicanism, in this election and previously. It links to the education framework, because in education, what you do is you eliminate the history of nonwhite Christian cis men, and you instead elevate the stories of great white Christian men, who are supposedly what — the people who make our country great. And that way, you can represent nonwhite immigration as an existential threat to the nation. You'll recognize so much of the Republican's playbook they've been keeping a secret from our voters.
..................................
https://youtu.be/LjK5Rt3DuJc?si=PFuPLJjozercPeYu
Russia, Nazi Germany, MAGA: The Dangers of Weaponizing History and Education | Amanpour and Company
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https://www.democracynow.org/2024/9/18/fascism_expert_jason_stanely_on_project?jwsource=twi
Democracy Now! Interview Part 2- AMY GOODMAN with author JASON STANLEY, 'ERASING HISTORY'
..................................
The human race finds itself again under threat of a rising global fascist movement. In the United States, democracy is under attack by an authoritarian movement that has found fertile ground among the country’s conservative politicians and voters, but similar movements have found homes in the hearts and minds of people all across the globe. To understand the shape, form, and stakes of this assault, we must go back to extract lessons from our past.
It is so darn scary. Too many people are far too uneducated, uncaring, and/or inactive in terms of the blatant fascism we are facing. Many of us have tried to do our part to inform our friends & neighbors who are willing to listen (at least for a while), but I know I haven't done enough. One more week to go! Let's do it!
(PS - I am extremely appreciative of HCR's constant education & focus that helps us all be better informed/armed to educate people about the importance of supporting democracy.)
The perfect explanation for how we got here and what we need to do, especially on November 5th, but also going forward. Because the fascists aren’t going to go away willingly, as we’ve already seen.
Frankly, I think that allowing the Trump rallies to proceed as they have (press either absent or minimized; strict crowd control, including not allowing anti-Trump attendees, the support of secret service etc. etc.) is a lot like the early years of the Nazi campaign in the 1930s. As shown in the movie "Cabaret," the brown shirts acted much as Trump supporters, suggesting and acting violently to outsiders. Note also that Kamala Harris rallies are not the same - Trump supporters showed up there, and she responded to them, you should be at the rally down the street, the smaller one... This has perhaps given Trump rally attendees the impression that what goes on there is supported by the masses, while it is not.
Wisdom in 1943 or so, so prescient for now. Thank you.
orange oompa loompa to a *T*
This was chilling.
I am going to print this and put it in the mail to all the neighbors who no longer talk to me, because perhaps of the Harris signs out front.
Thank you.
Oh brother. I'd like that 1940's Army pamphlet on fascism , in its original colors, title, and text, to show up unannounced in the in boxes of every member of the GOP whether a judge, an elections official, a sheriff, a Representative, or a Senator. And send it in to the officers of Fox News,
Wow! I never knew about Army Talks”. Its definition and warning against fascism is very clearly drawn. I especially like the weight of the remedy being working hard to make justice-for-all an imperative. That seems to be the most glaring frustration of our current moment. Watching Elon Musk -the richest man in the world- buy votes for trump knowing he (Musk) is untouchable because of deep pockets and $1.8billion-ish in (ex. Starlink satellite) military contracts is painful. Watching trump continually flout justice is eroding to public trust. We are at this ominous crossroads with fascism (again!) because we lost a public understanding and definition of what fascism is, and how injustice seeps and creeps into the cracks of democracy’s foundation and weakens it. What I am looking for in this election is not just “to win”. I am looking for a stronger, more determined Will to make our democracy work For-The-People. I’m looking for backbone. I’m looking for substance. I’m looking for results. THIS election is about US. Are we willing to stop hating as a reflexive frustration, and demand better of ourselves and those we elect ? Are we willing to continue to perennially work towards a “more perfect Union” because that’s what “normal” is for democracy? The greatest, most surprising truth I have learned this century is that Democracy does not thrive on auto-pilot nor convenience. It’s not easy. And without care and attention, it erodes.
Ahistoricity bears a terrible cost. It is hard to believe that boomers are now the memory of our country, and we were born after the last world war. If ever historical education was important, it is now.
I grew up in a steel town in western PA. Steel is gone dor many years and nothing has replaced it. We need to bring new industries back to these areas and give the people who are left there the dignity of being able to make a decent living. Also reasons for new people to settle there and help bring back the stability and happy life that was once there. Trump, though completely a false prophet, has recognized them and given them a reason to hope that someone of consequence sees them.
When NAFTA was enacted, the government, which was lead by democrats, should have planned something to take the place of the industries who would be affected. It didn’t and that is why the blue collar people no longer identify as Dems.
Joe has done that, give the man credit.
I do. I think Joe Biden has been a great President doing everything he can to support the middle class. But he can’t be everywhere and the damage was done earlier. Once there was a very vibrant Main St. with department stores, shoe stores, 3 furniture stores. Enough commerce for all. Now it is a shell. The only thing that saves it is that it is a county seat.The town I grew up in was Butler, PA where Trump held his rally. There is a reason he was there. The area is still wounded from Pullman Standard closing in the ‘60’s and Armco Steel then closing 10 years later. Nothing has replaced it. It is similar to coal country in WVA. I am sure there is no shortage of housing in either places. Now we need to do something to get some industry back there.
Wasn’t that a focus of Joe’s plan for the middle class, and Kamala’s. Chump will put on a hard hat, and pretend. Reality Show, versus reality. Granted time has hurt as greedy bastards took advantage and grabbed the cheap labor as it decimated American plants. There is plenty of blame to go around, and not all of it hangs around Dem necks. Your point is critical for Dems to hear
NAFTA as you noted was a betrayal from which the Democrats have never recovered. That Bill Clinton is granted even a modicum of respect is unfathomable.
Vice President Harris is clearly superior to Trump and should, for the sake of our nation's future, be elected President.
I was around then and felt that globalization was coming. Isolation was and is not possible in such a changing world. Our CEO’s and the rich bastards who have ruled from perches on high have deliberately skewered the middle class. They could have acted responsibly but cheap labor was a siren’s call from hell. That bloated bottom line defined their integrity. As I said before, plenty of blame to go around.
What you describe Professor Richardson is the epitome of Trump and the MAGA movement. What I can’t wrap my head around is that many, if not most of these Trumpists had parents, grandparents or great grandparents who fought against this ideology to save the world from it. They do a disservice to those relatives by supporting Trump and his fascist followers. It’s too bad they are not schooled in what fascism is. That saddens me. To them it is a meaningless word and does not evoked the terror that it brings.
History does not repeat itself....
So it's said. But good grief, the definition of Fascism outlined in that 1945 pamphlet certainly and chillingly approximates what we are witnessing now. May democracy prevail, may it truly awaken, or better, re-awaken!
‘Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.’ – Thomas Jefferson
…….and yet it seems close to 50% of folks in this country are OK with it. We are in sorry shape 😞
Say around 48% of those who vote where around 30% don't vote at all: It means that somewhere around 35% of voters actually will decide who we get and it could be an even smaller proportion given the vagaries of the Electoral College.
I was born in 1951. Much our assigned fiction reading in school (1957 to 1969) alerted us to signs of totalitarianism. From “The Silver Sword” and “The Diary of Anne Frank” to “Lord of the Flies” to “Animal Farm” to “Darkness at Noon” and “1984” to Eric Hoffer and the film, Mondo Cane, and even a Twilight Zone episode about Hitler starring Dennis Hopper, the warnings were consistent. Do school children still read those books? Or has social media candy replaced them?
This is worth watching - so eerily similar. “In 1939, 20,000 Americans held a pro-Nazi rally in New York’s Madison Square Garden — an event largely forgotten from American history.
A NIGHT AT THE GARDEN, made entirely from archival fragments filmed that night, transports audiences into this disturbing gathering and shines a light on the enduring power of demagoguery and antisemitism.”
https://youtu.be/NC1MNGFHR58?si=kaQinFK8WkO0wVYZ
I cannot understand why AIPAC and Jewish anti defamation groups are supporting Republicans.
Which President moved our embassy in Israel to Jerusalem?
Short term pandering. It worked, but smart people should see the opportunism, not real policy.
I live in Brooklyn Heights. The day before the election I have a doctor appointment in lower Manhattan. For the first time since just after 9/11, I feel hesitation about using the subway -- being apprehensive of a domestic-terrorist attack. Never in my wildest dreams did I think our country would be where it is today and that I would harbor such a fear.
#PublicHealthHaiku. Lessons from the past / History repeats itself / Time to heed is now.
Active resistance / Stop the juggernaut of hate / Assert truth of justice.
More and more, I think we need to establish in all schools--private and public both--a standardized civics class starting in elementary and repeated through high school, so kids learn about their system of government and how to recognize anti-democratic institutions (fascism among them), and a sex education / bodily autonomy class.
These are necessary to help our young citizens understand their rights and their history.
I particularly love this bit in the pamphlet: “Fascism treats women as mere breeders. ‘Children, kitchen, and the church,’ was the Nazi slogan for women,”.
In German, the original saying was Küche (kitchen,) Kirche (church,) und Kinder (children.) Hitler endorsed the whole idea of German women bearing women for his Third Reich and German women who had given birth to large German families received special privileges and benefits. Mussolini provided similar awards to Italian women who bore large families. At the same time, though, Hitler and Mussolini were determined to round up and kill Jews, Roma, political opponents and other people they thought were undesirable.
I can’t help thinking that both Hitler and Mussolini were both encouraging women to bear sons that would serve as cannon fodder in their future planned wars. The other thing is that the people in this country who want to strip women’s ability to control their own fertility are engaged in a desire for white Americans to continue their political and social dominance of the country. They are seriously afraid they’re going to be outnumbered by people they don’t see as white and that they will be treated as badly as they felt themselves privileged to treat non white Americans, whom they never saw as their equals. Abortion and birth control started to become forbidden in the mid 19th century when the white Anglo-Saxon Protestants started seeing increased Irish Catholic and German immigrants coming to the United States. They started outlawing abortion and primitive methods of birth control to keep WASP women bearing children in order to maintain their political and social dominance.
This!
And don't forget America as you go the polls the brave men and women who like my father were prepared to give their lives (and many thousands did) to defeat Hitlers fascism are disparaged by one of the current candidates to be President
This was a great newsletter on fascism. Thank you, Heather. I hope people reading this can reach out to family and friends who are still undecided and tell them where we heading if Trump wins. We can't let fascism rule over Democracy and our freedom. We have come to damn far to go back.
This needs to be submitted as a "Letter to the Editor" of every newspaper in the US! And post it to any social media sites you use (I use none). WAKE UP PEOPLE! Lest history repeat itself...
Professor, you are the only one who could bring out in public the critical 1943 War Department document about the fascism. Thank you so much. I hope NYT will catch this letter and will also publish it.
Along with the dearth of good journalism in our nation, probably elsewhere too, the lack of understanding exactly what terms such as fascism or socialism really evolve. As usual, HCR, your Letters does the job. Again one hopes it is read/shared/discussed by many others. Our democracy must have an educated citizenry. How educated are we? Ask me again after November 5.
Evening to All, and Go Dodgers!
There is symbolism, there is cymbalism, and there is simply the clashing of noise producing instruments.
Yet, the symbolism of the Dodgers leading the Hated Highlanders (i.e., the New York Yankees) 2 games to nill is too much to ignore. The Yankees, the long time team of the American establishment and a team who has long counted among its fan favorites Despicable Donald Trump, are halfway out.
This is the type of good news we must carry forward.
OK, beyond sports analogies, is it not fitting that Heather began her epistle of tonight by speaking of "The War Department". Of all the many Orwellian turns of phrases that have plagued our commonwealth, the ghastly re-naming of the War Department in 1947 to the "Defense" Department is one of the worst. 1947 was a terrible year for democracy in America, both of the pre and post Toquevillian kind. The National Security Act, one of the worst pieces of legislation ever to gain Congressional approval went through. This legislation created the CIA, the NSA, and re-named the War Department, the "Defense" Dept.
The only "defense" ever necessary was of course, the 9/11 attack perpetuated by the close friends and allies of the Presidential Administration in power at the time.
The massive, MASSIVE amount of public monies spent since 1947 in foreign wars, very few of which were justified, and the equally massive amount of damage done to way too many innocent peoples is horrific. That of course includes the "allies" of ours we supported during the Cold War, the War on Terror, etc. The billions of dollars we have given to the State of Israel as it has ratcheted up its genocidal actions in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Lebanon recently, is a war crime in and of itself.
Oh yes, Heather's recitation of the historical warnings of fascism are spot on!
A catfight between the two most bloated team budgets in the majors...and one representing a town whose dominant newspaper-ish throwaway item just refused to endorse any candidate for president...nothing to see there.
An outstanding post.
Wish this was not such a timely “letter”
All well and good. But probably no one who is voting for Trump is going to read it and if they do they will dismiss it either as “fake news” or just dismiss it as irrelevant. Which is not to say that I think the article is unimportant or without use. It’s a great article which nails the parallels with Trump and this campaign. But what is the way to fight this? Print up millions of copies and leave them in bars and churches and grocery store and gas stations and restaurants etc.? With no commentary or
attribution just letting it speak for itself? I don’t know and even though these articles are outstanding are they not still just preaching to the choir? I have no solution.
This kind of material works for targeting the persuadables in the middle—Independents, Undecideds, and reasonable Republicans. Not MAGA.
MAGA is lost to reason.
This is a rock solid piece and should be disseminated far and wide! I will be leaving a highlighted copy on the tables of my local coffeeshop, on the tables of the diner where I eat lunch, and the tables of the meat market I patronize. My town is redder than red, but most know I am the culprit spreading liberal BS. They tend to be curious and read some or all of what I leave. The way I see it, they are reading it and if they read enough something might ring a bell :)
I was born at the end of 1945, nine months after my father was discharged and came home from England. I wish we had read that pamphlet every year I was in school and been taught how to see, name, and combat the fascism in our midst, but instead, we were taught the very things it abjures--racism, elitism, nationalism, and pride in the greatness of our empire. And now, here we are.
A VOTE FOR KAMALA HARRIS IS A VOTE FOR WAR.
Dick Cheney, the driving force behind the Iraq War that killed more than one million human beings, endorsed Kamala Harris. Why? Because she is beholden to the war machine that thrives on conflict and chaos, no matter the cost to American lives or global stability.
Recent events paint a clear and alarming picture. Israel is expected to hit military targets inside Iran; China’s President Xi is ordering his troops to prepare for war; North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong-un, has blown up vital roads and railways, isolating his nation for whatever comes next; and there are reports NATO is considering arming Ukraine with nuclear weapons, bringing the threat of global conflict to our doorstep.
The world is on the brink, and Kamala is ready to drag us right into it.
Under Kamala’s leadership, the same failed policies of intervention and military expansion will continue. She stands with the defense contractors and corporate elites who profit from conflict while American families pay the price.
But there is a path to peace—and it starts with electing President Trump and sending Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to DC.
Together, they are the only ones willing to stand up to these entrenched interests and stop the Military-Industrial Complex from dragging us into devastating wars. RFK Jr. will bring a new voice to the administration, working alongside President Trump to dismantle the war machine that Kamala is ready to empower.
With war looming and only days left, we need your help to stop Kamala and her military-industrial backers. The clock is ticking.
President Trump is the only candidate willing to stand up to these powerful forces and fight for peace. He will not bow to the war machine, and with RFK Jr. at his side, he will ensure that our country is not pulled into a catastrophic conflict.
Time is running out. The future of peace is in our hands.
A huge number of us life-long Democrats approve this message from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Nonsense.
The claim that Kamala Harris is a warmonger simply because of Dick Cheney’s endorsement is an oversimplified and misleading argument. Harris’s record does not reflect Cheney’s interventionist legacy; in fact, she has demonstrated support for diplomacy and cooperation with allies to ensure stability. Painting her as a pawn of the “war machine” is a fear-based tactic, meant to distract from her actual policies and stances.
Contrary to this exaggerated portrayal, Harris’s approach emphasizes measured and multilateral responses, not the recklessness implied. The endorsement from Cheney doesn’t change Harris’s commitment to strategies that prioritize peace and global stability. Voters deserve to know the difference between rhetoric and reality.
This post mirrors statements made this morning by JD Vance on State of the Union on CNN. Vance vehemently used almost the exact same words written here to dismiss the fact that so many former staffers of Trump and the Cheneys are warning against electing Trump because he is a dangerous fascist. This war machine/peace candidate stuff must be today's MAGA talking points.
Earth to David and JD Vance: as of today, with the Biden administration in charge for more than 3 years - the U.S. is not at war in spite of invasions, attacks, and pandemics, that have occurred around the globe during this same period. The US is supporting allies who have been invaded or attacked and our diplomats are encouraging negotiations for peace for those wars. Sorry to burst your hope in Trump being the peace-nik candidate . Trump's "peace"policy - if one can call it that - is to let Putin and Netanyahu and Orban and other dictators do whatever they want in other countries. He is so ignorant that he believes by buddying up to these thugs, they will not come after the big prize of America. But, of course they will. That is why Putin is working so hard to get Trump elected. He knows an easy mark when he sees one.
David, if you are truly concerned about global wars, the best way we can stay out of active war is to work with allies to protect them and ourselves. The United States of America (without Trump in the WH) has the strength and the will to stand up to bullies who shoot or invade first and assume the rest of the world will just let them. That is the peace plan that the Biden administration has followed successfully. And if more countries stopped "electing" fascists like Trump, it would be easier to sustain democracy around the world.
You support a fascist. You are a fascist.
Name calling is not an argument.
Z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z.....
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Goes both ways
Stop. You support a fascist, rapist and a felon. That you think you can take any kind of high road is laughable.
Demonizing the opposition is also not an argument
Tell that to the United States Generals.
Agree, both Joe and Kamala are weak. The entire world knows it and are taking full advantage of this opportunity. I’d like all the warmongers on this page to pledge their children and grandchildren to the front lines of these never ending wars. Or better yet come down from their ivory towers and go themselves. They scream eat the rich, but go right along with the military industrial complex who make billions on death and destruction. Democrats used to be the party for the working class. A party who was for free speech, peace and coexistence. I guess Heather can write about how the parties have switched once again. Democrats of today want to silence voices they don’t agree with, imprison those who don’t stay in lock step with the party ideals, and blow up half the world to control others people lives, install puppet governments and rob these countries of their natural resources. I am embarrassed for what this party has become.
You are a fascist. You support a fascist, rapist, felon and traitor.
It is through the Democratic kindness of Dr. Richardson that you even get to post on her Substack.
Not arguing. Stating a fact.
You support a fascist and therefore are a fascist too.
Both sides smear the other candidate. The trolls on the Republican side say that Kamala Harris is a vacuous, unintelligent, drug-addicted puppet. Am I to believe that? Does that make you a vacuous, unintelligent, drug-addicted puppet too?
The following is my response to someone who sent an email playing the same word games you are playing:
Repeating the words he has called the Democratic candidate? Playing the both sides do it game?
If people want to support the candidate United States Generals are calling a Fascist that is their vote in a Democracy.
If people want to vote for a person convicted of sexual assault, and a felon out on bail who holds the kind of rally seen in New York over the weekend that is on their conscience as an American and as a voter.
If people want to align themselves with the words he speaks, the actions against this Country he has taken and the actions he proposes to take that is their choice in a Democracy.
It is way past time for mind games, pretzel logic and alternate realities in order to justify voting for a person like trump. It is way past time for pseudo intellectual examinations.
There actually is a fascist running for the Office of the President of the United States of America. He speaks the language of a fascist. He proposes fascist policies. Pretending it is not there does not make it go away. Playing like just maybe it is perhaps, if only, how about the other Candidate is not going to work.
Trying to rationalize that the person you are planning on voting for is not really the person you are voting for has got to be a mighty uncomfortable place.
What I insist on these 8 days before the election is that people at least be honest about exactly who they are indeed going to cast their ballot for on November 5.
I am proud to cast my vote for Kamala Harris.
Good answer. While I think you have the wrong definition of 'Fascist', which is actually an economic term, and I don't think it's wise to compare anybody to Hitler - even Trump, Trump is not a good representative of my values. But he has with him somebody who represents my values completely, and the Dems have invalidated themselves by willingly eroding free-speech, which is the bedrock of our democracy. Trump talks openly in a way he knows will rile up his base but never took the country to war. The Dems are the party of war and support for Big Business, and they try to hide it. We will survive Trump, and we will thrive with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Trump's administration, but we may not survive Kamala Harris and the dems' war mongering and dismissal of the constitution. Too bad it's down to this choice, but that's what I choose. I'm voting to get Robert F. Kennedy into a position where he can do his work.
Fascism has arrived, along with aspiring oligarchs. What went wrong in our country? Grievances unresolved since the Civil War? Citizens who don’t know and don’t care? Not enough civics education? Some of these people will be very surprised when Trump comes for them, too. And, if elected, he will.
One thing these War Talks 'got' was the need to define things happpening in terms understandable to everyman (woman). They did not assume people knew what 'fascism' was...explained what happens under it. They did not just label something without explaining the label in easily understandable language. Yes, itvwas propaganda, but isn't that what political campaigns are? 'm convinced people don't have a clue what fascism means...it's just a word.
It is my belief that one of the things that needs to be considered is to limit the exposure of Fox News on our military bases around the world. It is the primary source of news on televisions throughout all of our bases. Perhaps NPR would be a better choice.
Censorship is anti-democratic, period. Under our constitution, you can't eliminate somebody's voice from the conversation. As long as you think like this, we will be subject to the possibility of dictatorship in our beloved country and losing every one of our hard-won freedoms. If you have to eliminate the opposition to win the argument, maybe your viewpoint is not as rock solid as you thought it was.
FOX is propaganda. Their information comes directly from Russia. They support the fascist running for President.
No kidding!
As the War Department enumerated, all the boxes have now been checked (and I'm not talking about ballots). The choice is clear. We have a little over a week till we learn the fate of the American experiment. If there is a higher power watching over us may they protect and preserve us all.
If the Maga movement and his leader aren’t the personification of fascism I don’t know who or what other group is.
So the War Department in WWII knew to tell the soldiers about the reasons they were fighting fascism. Excellent. Could we drop this across America from the Department of Defense?
It saddens me greatly to think that The Greatest Generation fought, died, and sacrificed so much to rid the world of this plague, only for a very few live to see it rear its ugly head again, this time on our own soil. The very thing they were warned about. History is repeating itself folks. The generation of Americans who defended us against this threat so long ago are unable to do so again. It is time for our generation to defend them and every other American, regardless of belief, views, opinions, origins, race, creed, and color. We must vote. We must make sure that there are no monsters left to threaten our country’s very foundations and way of life as Americans. I have never, in my 50+ years of life, been afraid of the outcome of an election. I am now. We are not voting for a specific person(s) in the normal sense. We are voting to either save and secure our way of life, or on the flip side, we will vote to end what so many have given their lives to defend and protect. Don’t let their sacrifices be in vain. Don’t sacrifice the future of your children, your families. Make no mistake….going down the path of hatred and revenge will not be easily reversed.
Looks like Facebook is blocking this column and HCR generally this morning. This material is that important.
Facebook has been deleting certain Substack posts for several weeks now. I've had two of Joyce Vance's Civil Discourse columns pulled as "spam." At first you could put the link in a comment, as opposed to the main post, but they've got on to that now: their bots are "reading" the comments too.
Mine is still up. I post LFAA daily, topped by an excerpt. I’ve not had an issue yet.
Another great intervention Professor! When I read the 3 tactics of fascists it immediately struck me that one could substitute Zionism & Israel for fascism & America and do no damage at all to the meaning of either.
That is beyond sad. We visited the region of Poland where my ancestors lived. We thought everyone had been murdered in the camps. We had an incredibly knowledgeable…no brilliant guide. One day in a tiny village 100+K from Krakow we found a family record. A relative (would’ve been my father’s first cousin once removed) left Krakow in 1937 to go to Israel. Of the hundreds of relatives in Poland at the time she’s the only one to live. Her family/my family are now Israelis … exhibiting an utter lack of historical insight … as today the Zionists do to Palestinians & the Greater Middle East exactly/precisely what Hitler did to dissidents & Jews.
Shame on you Zionists for defiling Judaism & Jewish people everywhere.
My sister called me a communist yesterday. She has no idea what she's talking about. She believes what FOX and friends tells her. She and her husband are so f*ing brainwashed it makes me want to puke. Their stupidity and ignorance brings it home to me that the threat of these iDJiTs is real. I have never been so scared for our country. I voted last week. BLUE up and down the ballot.
Thank you, Dr. Richardson for continuing to educate us. And I'm thankful for this Comments page where I can vent.
That’s so sad. Perhaps print the pamphlet and give it to her? Lots of good shareable post today, Gregg Popovich’ video is amazing.
"Fascism thrives on ignorance and indifference." This is where our schools and teaching "civics" comes in. "Steve" you outline the danger well. As a retired public school teacher, the mindset of Americans is so manipulated that this thinking makes a mockery of what I/We've taught! Thank you Heather for your work in reminding us of what's at stake and the opportunity for commentary in this space.
I recommend historian Tim Snyder’s Substack for a simple 3 part description of fascism.
He also provides a summary of Trump and Ukraine in a 10 point summary.
Both Heather and Tim are excellent at educating us about the reality and risk of American fascism.
The cowardice and greed of billionaires bending the knee to Trump means that only the masses, through our votes, can stop this profoundly ignorant and dangerous man from dismantling American democracy.
I felt renewed faith in our government of WWII. A great definition of facism, linked to everyday life.
Learning by experience—how amazing.
The US Army's perception of Naziism was more about propaganda than German social and political realities, saturated with inbuilt social and ethnic prejudices which the Nazis simply hoovered up and augmented. It wasn't just Jews. Only half the victims of the death camps were Jewish. By far the largest target of ethnic hatred were Slavic peoples to the east, generally considered inferior and "subhuman". The Nazis war plans in the invasion of the Russian empire included a mass extermination of human beings to make room for the colonists from the German Master Race. The Nazis did not invent the idea, they simply implemented what many Germans already thought but on their own not out to exterminate. Once Hitler's war machine went into high gear to implement what had long been written about in his Mein Kampf, millions of armed Germans, highly organized killing specialists, were involved in mass murder in "the East". Let's say, maybe 10 20 million.... When the war was won by the Allies, they found they could not in fact rehabilitate German as a bulwark against the Communists, by "deNazification". There were just too many. Naziism had its obvious leaders, but it was also a mass movement. In the late 40s or so, the Allies gave up on deNazification, they were integrated into post-war Germany. They were part of Germany's transformation into an economic powerhouse in Europe, SANS war.
I won't sort all this out here, just add that you must admit that the Germans did succeed in essentially eliminating Jews from the nation. That brutal efficiency is a beacon of hope for fascists everywhere (even the ones here who deny that particular holocaust happened at all).
My own guesstimate is that out of a prewar population of 9 million Jews in Europe, the Nazis murdered 6 million, or around 70 percent. Jews and Roma were the two groups whose people Hitler sought to murder in their entirety. Poles were arrested and many murdered if they were intellectuals, scientists, teachers, or if like Czesława Kwoka and her mother, they had the unfortunate fate of living in areas of Poland Hitler coveted. Poles and other Slavic peoples were expected to become enslaved people to serve the Nazis in the Third Reich.
The mechanized slaughter of millions could only be possible in an a modern, industrial society. I have no patience with people who seek to minimize the number of Jews murdered under Hitler’s regime, or who try to claim the death camps were not foul and horrific places in which the Nazis sought to kill as many people as they did within the areas they controlled. To do otherwise is contemptible and an insult to the memories of those who were murdered.
Who today would spend the time to read & think about the pamphlet on Fascism - attached today to the by HCR? It would be tossed off & ridiculed by the media who bow to MAGA. Then tossed out with the trash.
Driving through rural PA this week the signs for the Republican candidates are not just paid billboards but free yard signs. Understanding why they might vote republican now is important but does not lead us to an outcome that will be a good one.
thank you for caring enough to do this. it is kind and patriotic and an enourmous effort. in June 2022 the Court demonstrated it understood its new role. In response I wrote the US Bill of Human Rights, and mailed it to my congressionsal delegation, state rep and senator, and a few other folks. That document is 4 pages and took me 14 months to deliver; it's exhausting to think about the effort you put in here, daily. So thanks again for loving people and the community we comprise, and good luck on November 5. It will be only the first step.
A perfect description of the *republican party*, which is a fascist crime syndicate to its core and to the marrow of every *republican's* bones.
Excellent writing on history and facism. There is a series of videos produced by the government title Why we fight. You can find them on Youtube. Highly recommend people watch these videos. Very informative.
Thank you for today’s Letter and your work. A little perspective makes us soon realise there is cycle and revisiting the past helps us understand what goes on today.
Thank you for another critically important lesson on our history.
Ironic and telling that we in Heather’s choir are shown this historic information but that this simple essay has not to my knowledge made any appearance in MSM.
Even with the best election results, the mind set of too many of we citizens will take generations to improve. With only two parties, I ponder if the democratic machine is so inclined….
Thank you. Could not be more relevant.
Thanks Dr. - This is a great picture of one part of the coalition we must defeat. Another part to understand is the Christofacists. Propublica has been doing a deep dive study into them and some important info can be found here, if you please. >
https://projects.propublica.org/christian-nationalism-origins/
"... See you on the dark side of the moon." Pink Floyd
Eddie Wollenberg
Clarksville, Arkansas
Kudos to HCR once again! History has is always worth knowing. As I just "pontificated" in an e-mail to my siblings & friends (recommending the Thomas Friedman NYT essay of Octoer 15) ~
In reference to the challenges we and the collective West will face in the next few years, regarding a probable confrontation with China, et al: All at the same time, we have the situation of Britain and Germany (naval arms race) 1901-1914; 1930s and 1940 Europe and America, and the 5 post-WWII years. Are we going to have a Roosevelt and Truman, or a Lindbergh/Dewey/Robert Taft? - ERW
Here is something to watch …. https://youtu.be/vGAqYNFQdZ4?feature=shared
Wow!!!
I’m otherwise speechless!
Once again, HCR makes me feel I’m “reading the eternities” even while the news is deafeningly nearby.
Ditto
BINGO! Isn’t it something that people are able to learn so darn little from history that they do not experience themselves?! Stunning! It is good to review this but the media would have done the country a real service by plugging this at every opportunity over the last 6 months.
Over the last 3 years!
A brilliant bit of history.
Chilling in its parallels to today.
One might even say Timeless & Timely.
The classics never become irrelevant. Seems that the War Department produced a pamphlet for the ages. Too bad it's not in wide circulation. HCR's efforts help.
Thank you Dr. Richardson - if only this would run on the front page of every Sunday newspaper in the U.S.
As ever Professor ⭐, thank you
This pamphlet should be air-dropped across the country again--with only minor edits.
Thank you for tying current events to our nations’ history. Either we learn from history or we are doomed to repeat it.
Buy, beg, or borrow a copy of Timothy Snyder's book, "On Freedom." Snyder is a Yale professor and historian, and I have learned more from listening to this book than in all the classes I have ever taken and books I have ever read. The path from colonial imperialism to fascism to "sadopopulism" is an ugly one. The book is dense and sometimes wears me out. But it's a good kind of tired.
Agree, Barbara, Snyder's book is absolutely crucial to comprehending what America and Americans are on the precipice of losing.
Keep in mind, trump has said he will seize power, "after the election". So imagine this...there will be NO "Inauguration Day", maybe no finished counting of ballots, and as drumpf has told the country, NO "Department of Justice" to prosecute laws that would protect Americans from a dictator.
Imagine El Salvador or even Nicaragua to your south. Remember what their citizens, their families endured. Do not assume that such a thing is unbelievable in America. It is not.
And while reading Snyder's book, keep your imagination fully alert as he discusses what freedom really is. Think about what, in your own personal life, disappears under a fascist state.
Your freedom is invisible, until you no longer have it.
It is important to anticipate and guard against real possibilities, first begins by imagining the worst, and then preparing effectively.
Let us hope such horrible imaginings never come to pass. That they won't, is not assured because eighty-million people want trump to be president. The only power Americans now possess is the ballot.
Good for Liz Cheney, unsubscribing to media which owner is afraid to stand guard for the country.
Wow! Im very impressed with our War Dept. of the time. They explained something complicated, and warned of how to recognize dangers at home. It was prescient.
I did not even realize that I was holding my breath the entire time I was reading this. It is so obvious, and has been for some time. It is also both terrifying and sad to think it is working. I am both scared and heartbroken for us and the world.
Truth then, truth now. May all the gods help us.
And women are up front in recognizing abortion band as a means of controlling so essential for the fascists to take over and thwart the thinking person's kickback. Young voters are less blinded by cult tactics and understand the serious character flaws of Trump's 34 felony convictions and any guilty verdict whenever he cannot avoid a jury of his peers. Here's to a successful Harris/Walz ticket.
RE: "Americans should not be fooled into thinking that fascism could not come to America ...."
Back in 2006, John Dean warned us about this authoritarian threat in "Conservatives Without Conscience." In 2020, he followed up with "Authoritarian Nightmare."
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/finding-positivity/202009/john-deans-authoritarian-nightmare
The quote from Dean's first book that I use frequently, is:
"Probably about 20 to 25 percent of the adult American population is so right-wing authoritarian, so scared, so self-righteous, so ill-informed, and so dogmatic that nothing you can say or do will change their minds. … And they are so submissive to their leaders that they will believe and do virtually anything they are told. They are not going to let up and they are not going away."
(Those who voted for DJT in 2020, 74,225,839, represented 22.4% of our total 2020 population, 331,893,745. That vote also represented 28.7% of all eligible voters, 258,339,023.). They are a minority and are easy to beat at the polls.
Based on his 2006 book, I wrote this on the blog I started in 2005:
“Can There Really Be Fascist People In A Democracy?” – John Dean Exposes The Authoritarians that Are Leading the Way
https://the-wawg-blog.org/can-there-really-be-fascist-people-in-a-democracy-john-dean-exposes-the-authoritarians-that-are-leading-us-that-way/
This letter is exceptional! Wish all Americans could (would) read this, today, or 20 yrs ago!
Whay a shame that this instruction (and instructive) Governmental pamphlet wasn't available earlier in this campaign. It should have become a key concept in all of the Blue Candidates' campaign literature, and a major part of every Blue candidate's campaign. Now, unfortunately, it's too late.
Stating the obvious, it seems that efforts to promote fascism and erode democracy in the US have been quite successful. Outrage, disgust and hand wringing aren’t adequate countermeasures to overcome them. I keep thinking about HCR’s letter from yesterday, which explained that Elon Musk with a top secret security clearance was somehow allowed to have several conversations with President Putin, an advisory that uses state resources to try to throw our elections. And if he is speaking the truth, the Director of NASA didn’t even seem to get a heads up from US Intelligence Agencies. Those sorts of weaknesses or areas of incompetence seem to be easily exploited by the new Republican Party and their authoritarian allies overseas. The oath of office has been repeatedly ignored by so many members of Congress and so many people in vital positions in the last administration that it feels like there are too many to count. All without consequence. On and on.
Thank you for re-posting this letter from May, 2023. I kept that letter because it’s the best exposition of fascism I have seen.
The uncertainty Covid engendered has heightened the appeal of "I'll fix everything and take care of you." The pandemic made most of us feel like we just crested the peak of a roller coaster and were screaming down the long slope with our stomachs in our mouths. In more level times most of us would have taken one look at Agent Orange and thought "he can't even take care of himself, how's he gonna take care of me?"
I'm not into fat shaming, and in fact I believe that some corpulence is a survival holdover from Neanderthal people who needed an extra layer to make it through the winter. However in the felon's case his natural skin tone, which we can see at the margins of his makeup and on his hands, is really pasty and unhealthy. His physical decline is clear in his shambling walk. His mental decline is equally clear in his inability to follow a thread of conversation or remember words. This is simply a person who needs care, not a caretaker.
Although I'm appalled at his notions of how to govern, there are those who like them. I think those people are victims of their own ignorance and susceptible to the wild propaganda the MAGA machine spews, but they get to vote, and here we are. The polling has always placed his main supporters as uneducated white males. The obvious solution is to educate them, but they're largely immune to learning or changing their minds about anything. Those who can "evolve" have already moved to the Harris camp. Our best hope is to get out the vote among the educated, as the illiberal government the felon proposes will not turn off enough (or any) of his supporters to turn away from MAGA.
Thank you for the refresher/more in depth history lessons. This fits in well with a book I am reading Book and Dagger by Elyse Graham. It covers how the United States needed to quickly create an intelligence agency as we ramped up to joining our allies in WWII. Trump and his co-conspirators use some of those techniques to try and sway public opinion and keep the faithful riled up.
Heather, Thank you so much for the work you do for us all. Continued Blessings and Gratitude.
I was in Vietnam in 1968/1969. The military paper was Stars and Stripes. I can not exaggerate how anti-war much of the writing was. I how "gone over to the other side" the side that was conscious of the disaster th is war was, focused on the 'military industrial co mplex' making profits mostly with minimal concern for American or Vietnamese lives. Reading this from 1943 about Donald trump/project 2025/Republican party/fascism is an incredible reminder of how distorted some men's minds can be, but being here with Heather and this group instills hope and even Faith in the United States of America.
I encourage anyone with means to take out a appropriate sized add in their local newspaper and have this land in next Sunday's newspaper.
Every American should read this and tell me how it does not describe the openly published plan that Trump and friends have for America if he prevails on November 5th. Thank you for uncovering it, Heather!
It has fallen to me, the humor columnist, to endorse Harris for presidentOpinion
Isn’t this what a newspaper is supposed to do?
(Hint to Bezos: Sell WaPo and keep the hell out of politics if you're going to enable fascists just to keep your gluttonous empire. My comment, not Alexandra Petri's)
Gifted: https://wapo.st/3UqHWRM
Thank you for today's letter! I just shared it on my FB feed with this intro:
This is a long read, but it explains Fascism and why our grandfathers fought Hitler and Stalin. You know, WWII in 1940s. And, why it is imperative to vote blue now. We cannot become an authoritarian country. If this is what you want, then move to one, don't make America one! Please share this widely. Thank you.
In today’s letter, Professor Richardson chillingly presents a 1945 Department of War pamphlet that explains fascism. In just a few pages, we can see that not only are we reliving this scenario now 79 years later, we are experiencing it exactly according to the original playbook. Frightening isn’t a strong enough adjective!
Perfect!!! Using the WW II definition of facism strikes to the heart of this issue without pretense!!! Rare and perfect.
This is powerful, and exactly what's happening. It breaks my heart for all falling into this trap. Where were they during 6th grade social studier?
Wow! This has been the battle of every democracy where the few try to steal the wealth and work of the many. Steal the hard fought freedoms of the male workers, and who see women as sex workers, handmaids, and breeders…that’s JD and DJ in a nutshell! And nuts to this!
The only cure for this toxic masculinity are strong caring humans who see the world differently!
The God of Love is not a fascist!
No matter how hard they try we will fight hate and fear!
Thank you thank you thank you for telling the truth every time you write , even though the truth is hard to read. I appreciate every letter you write and wanted to say so. 🙏🏻💜
Heather,
Copies of the 3/24/45 “Army Talks” pamphlet need to be printed, distributed (air-dropped) everywhere, including on Trump’s Madison Square Garden event tonight! Where can I get a copy to print?
Sincerely,
Roger Fearing
818-389-2859
Rfearing@ix.netcom.com
“Fascism is not the easiest thing to identify and analyze,” it said, “nor, once in power, is it easy to destroy."
Easily identifiable fascism is on the ballot next month. And if it is given power, it will happily point out that its plans were openly disclosed during the campaign, and treat it as a mandate. And they will be correct to do so.
Democracy will die in America, in broad daylight. This is truly an existential election.
REMEMBER JANUARY 6 !
Trump the Fascist was spotted on Labor Day Sunday, September 2016.
Nine years later. Here we are. On the threshold of another nightmare.
A nightmare worse than all the previous times when America fought and defeated the evils of the English aristocracy, America’s Slavery, Europe’s Hitler, America’s 9-11, and four years of President Trump’s fascism.
We defeated Fascism in 2020. We will defeat it again.
A majority of US are not fascists. We will never vote for a fascist, especially one who tried and FAILED to overthrow our democracy on January 6, 2021.
Than you SOOO much for that 1945 pamphlet from the war department on Fascism! I is SO well stated. I have a fabulous but handicapped grandson who has trouble understanding consequences of actions and thoughts. I think he can understand this and will forward it. He says he wont vote. I hope he learns, votes, and for real Democracy, Harris! Thank you for this article!!!
Thank you for this history. I understand that the definition and description of fascism does not change over time, but in reading this war pamphlet from 80 years ago it is so easy to identify the many elements that are in daily politics and the actions many republicans have taken in the past few years as they seek to destroy individual freedoms. And Mitch and Mike want to call out Harris for correctly describing this behavior in Trump . . .
You nailed it AGAIN Heather !!! Excellent choice information and historic context
Thank you, Professor Richardson for this information. You have made a better citizen yet again.
Do you have any images of this document? A huge social media campaign built around it would be useful but the youths like pictures. A pic of the front page with a link to the full text would be very powerful. I’ll look around for it.
Here it is, Pamela:
https://archive.org/details/ArmyTalkOrientationFactSheet64-Fascism/mode/2up?view=theater
thanks so much!
I keep posting, people turn off, and now a local GOP office had a vile bomb threat!! Such a travesty—tragedy when, in the midst of plenty and continuing possibilities, as well as the chances we have to address overwhelming climate challenges and tragedies and wars, we can’t even keep it together’ as a country, let alone localities and even some families. We are losing our collective minds. And however this election goes, we’ll have more to heal. Courage, you all…
So, I note the issue you reference in this post is not among those in the incomplete (and curated) archive at the University of Richmond, even though a scan exists in the Internet Archive. I am willing to wager it was in the University of Richmond's collection ten years ago. It is very sobering to think it would be in the nation's interest for the Army to republish it now, unedited.
this should be required reading for every citizen. I've stopped responding to two people who insist that our choice in November is between T and communism. No verifiable facts move them on centimeter from their position. if he wins, they'd better not complain or whine.
Thank you. I can’t thank you enough.
The frightening book Prophet Song by Paul Lynch tells the story of what happens after the Autocrats are elected, or seize power.
Thank you, Professor Richardson, for all your Letters. I’m always learning from you. I wish this pamphlet had been given to every 6th grader in America starting in 1945 and to every new citizen. Perhaps some of the right-wing extremists of the past 80+ years might have developed different views and understanding of what they were being exposed to and (here’s where my optimism and wishful attitude comes into play) we might not be on the brink of becoming governed by an outright malevolent narcissist whose only concern is himself. I hope that enough Americans in every state can see the dangers that lie ahead if the Republicans gain the White House, and will vote to keep and strengthen democracy.
I too thank both Professor Richardson and Steve for their percipient and profound analysis of how things stand today. I do feel that it is now all a bit late. Trump aided and abetted by Elon Musk is on the White House's doorstep. As is well-known, "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it". In Europe where I am, the words of John Kelly are currently being highlighed - Trump's attitude to power fits the precise definition of fascism. I also like the description of fascism and Trumpism - lies about everything except about violence (and hatred). Europe, composed of allies (until 5 November when almost all of its many countries may become estranged from the US) faces, as a journalist today puts it, a clear and present danger - NATO being threatened plus the stability of the global economy (with tariffs on trade), climate change, the cohesion of democracies and even freedom from arbitrary arrest and imprisonment (in Russia allied to state murder). There is also contempt for European leaders. However, Europe is not yet finished. Sweden and Finland have joined NATO. Neutral Switzerland is not totally averse to helping. An internal alliance of the Nordic and Baltic states plus Poland and the UK, not forgetting the EU, is firm in financial and military support for Ukraine, which Putin (bolstered by his Iranian, North Korean and Chinese allies) seems to want to turn into a vassal state as compensation for losing 500000 men in the field. The reference to millions of refugees if he achieves his objectives is apt. For Ukraine's considerable war machine to get into Putin's hands would be an added threat, especially for Poland. As a last rather fundamental point, in Denmark where I live, turnout for elections is generally expected to be 80%. All citizens over 18 get a letter in the post with indications about voting. No-one can be left out as there is a national ID system. So it is c. 80% of everyone. At school, learning about democracy and participation by voting is a standard part of the curriculum. Too late now for the US to change and improve, but since hope springs eternal, perhaps Harris will win or if not then one day things can return to normal and lessons can be learned. Time will tell.
I loved my two weeks in Denmark. They take the climate emergency seriously, for one thing. Health care there is terrific, as we learned from personal experience. I am sorry that the rest of the world is affected by our dysfunctional politics. If only we were mature enough to learn something from other countries.
Denmark, in addition to being an agreeable place to live in, is very well run on the basis of consensus politics, quite heavily taxed but with correspondingly good public services (e.g you are paid to go to college). And, public debt is an incredibly low 33.7% of GDP. It is also on a per capita basis the biggest contributor to helping Ukraine.
Few, if any, voting age Americans have any real knowledge about fascism or democracy, for that matter. Infotainment has replaced investigative news reporting, and false equivalence has replaced reporting based on facts and evidence in context. Ignorance and predation are the operating principles from which the minority right wing promulgates.
No one of public prominence speaks about the coming American on American violence we all will suffer. It's a predator's buffet, and the American citizenry is being served.
“Fascist governments run the people” …. And the people run for their lives.
Thank you for this excellent reminder, Heather!
Biden should paper the country with the words of our WWII pamphlets. Americans are wiefully ignorant of their own history and the history of the countries who are our NATO allies that they cannot tell friend from foe! Hence 45% support a candidate who supports our biggest foes, ie., Putin and Orban.
According to a segment on Friday's PBS edition, David Brooks and L.Z. Granderson seemed to agree that Harris should focus more on the economy, because that's what most voters care about and many don't understand what fascism means. Unfortunately, that was the scenario in Germany in 1934 when Hitler took power.
What do you think?
I guess Kelley, et al are right . He’s a fascist. Glad they waited until almost too late to tepidly reveal what they’ve known for years to be true. No heroes in that lot.
As a nation we have rested on our democratic laurels for far too long, and now it may be too late to save ourselves from Fascism. Too many of us have become such self-interested consumers we can no longer come to grips with the really important things in life and are (or at least feel) helpless when faced with an actual Fascist (see War Department definition) who has cleverly (give the Devil his due) convinced a whole lot of basically spoiled, unhappy, racist, sexist, xenophobic and apparently ill-educated Americans that he will be their savior, right all wrongs and somehow restore us to the paradisiacal state in which we once lived, y'know, back before any of us were actually born.
You would think a mongrel population like ours would not be so proud of having American blood and genes and mores and religious beliefs.
It's as if Mussolini and Hitler and many other unwholesome leaders both past and present had never spelled it out for us. Oh no, we're too rich and exceptional for any of that. A dictatorship here? Are you kidding? Here??
One of the most successful businessmen in the history of business and owner of The Washington Post, Jeff Bezos, has just revealed himself as totally gutless and refused to listen to his editors and journalists who wanted him to endorse Kamala Harris for President. Bezos apparently believes Trump has a credible enough chance of either winning the election or succeeding this time with a post election coup d'etat, that he is hedging his bets. He has an enormous fortune to protect and plenty of other things going on involving the US Government, so he does not want to be hassled by any President Trump who might feel dissed by some unkind, on-the-record statements about him that Bezos surely now wishes he had never made.
Bezos seems to have calculated that the Washington Post, venerable source of truthful reporting and example of journalistic courage over many decades, can be thrown under the bus for his business convenience. This is cowardly and Bezos is now a disgrace, but it doesn't matter to him if all WaPo subscribers cancel their subscriptions and the Post goes bankrupt because it is just a question of POCKET CHANGE compared to the big store. Uh huh, Amazon.
There is a short must-read article in The Atlantic (26 October 2024) by Ellen Cushing entitled "Don't Cancel the Washington Post, Cancel Amazon Prime". She explains why you should NOT cancel your WaPo subscription (a lot of journalists and other workers will lose their jobs), but cancel your Prime subscription and/or boycott all things Amazon instead.
The link to the article is below, but there is a pay wall I think. There are ways around that, however.
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2024/10/washington-post-bezos-amazon-prime-cancel/680421/
Bezos & other American oligarchs are cowards at the highest level!
Bravo, thank you for providing this piece of history. At this moment I'm finding a lot of people out there, not grasping this at all. They just don't see the big picture and understand the danger of Trump in the WH again. One old friend of mine who taught college PR classes and is conservative has decided to not vote. She's afraid of both sides equally. That's how good the propaganda is.
Excellent. Thank you
What that War Department memo didn't point out, and I'm 99% sure most of its white readers didn't get, was that a homegrown form of fascism was already thriving in the U.S. South -- and was well represented in Congress. That became apparent with the rise of the civil rights movement and the subsequent passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of the mid-1960s. The GOP embraced it, first with Nixon's "southern strategy" then by welcoming with open arms the opponents of Roe v. Wade (1973). In 1980 along came Reagan, whose administration went to work applying on a national scale what he had done in California. Thus began a steep, slippery slide to where we are now: with the Republic in serious danger from plutocrats like Bezos, Thiel, and Musk. I've got my fingers crossed that the slide can be reversed, but it's going to take much more than one election.
Can't thank you enough, Heather, for all you do to keep us educated and focused on the all too real implications of current events, and especially for today's Letter which presents the horrifying reality behind what so many people think is just another derogatory word thrown at someone in a tight election. Anyone who fought in WWII, however, their immediate descendants, and your loyal readers are aware of the dangers of Fascism and a Trump re-election. This Letter needs a wider audience. Could you please submit it as an Op-Ed to the Washington Post, The LA Times, the NY Times, and every other news outlet that you can? And could we all make sure it gets shared with everyone and anyone we think might find it illuminating? Thank you, thank you, and thank you, again.
Right on cue Heather!! I was so hoping you would reference this war dept pamphlet again. It was one of the first references you list in your letters that i actually looked at. I downloaded and printed lots of copies at that time and handed out to all my "friends". Time to repeat it. Simply unbelievable to me we are this close to losing our democracy.
There can be no doubt as to what they have planned; we are standing on a precipice, and we aren't sure who will rise and who will fall. I am so frightened.
I was two years old when this pamphlet was published. And it is relevant today. Maybe even more so than in 1945. With deep gratitude, I say thank you for publishing it. A stark reminder of where we are...and where we might be. God forbid. Yesterday I was so depressed I wasn't sure I'd make it through the day. Depression has a downward spiral that is hard to break. Been there? If you really want to be depressed read the Oct. 14th New Yorker's article entitled "When the Ice Melts" about Greenland's ice cap melting. The election will be irrelevant anyway. Today is a new day with bright New Mexico sun. And I'm going to be a driver for GOTV. Do something!!
Penny, you are not alone. I’ve started putting my phone on do not disturb so I won’t hear all the beeps from all the fundraising requests and after reading Heather‘s column and a couple of newspapers that’s it for me for the day until the PBS NewsHour. That’s it, I do sneak peek at, some New York Times notifications now and then. It’s all too much, isn’t it? Our election, the Middle East, the Taliban in Afghanistan and what they’ve done to women, women in Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, Yemen, Ukraine… The Internet brings it all to our door every minute of the day in real time.
Aside from taking care of all of my plants I’m involved in some local community activities around beautification and neighbors getting to know neighbors. I’m also remembering that there are wonderful novels that can take me away and transport me to a different place. I listen to Pandora sometimes, either the Carlos Nakai station or the André Segovia station. Both are soothing to me. I wish you the best in finding what works for you.
I read the source material on which your column was based to get a sense of the full context from which you quoted. Everything is there, and clear in a similar way to what you present. A premise of your column is that this explanation of Fascism from 80 years ago is meaningful today. Yet the “Supplemental Material” at the end of the pamphlet is laughably absurd—wherein the War Department attempts to describe how Communism, the system under which our then ally, the USSR, operated, differs from Fascism. Our Government was telling us that there were important differences: the Soviet Union was peace-loving and did not want war, sought international alliances, and valued the rights and freedoms of their multinational citizenry. Our government was down-playing the deep similarities between Fascism and Communism, and between what Hitler had done and what Stalin was still in the process of doing. I find it harder to give full value to this description of Fascism in a context where the description of Communism was so whitewashed to achieve a propaganda end.
I hope at some future time you’ll speak to this systemic acceptance of the Soviet Union as our dear ally that existed in our Government during WWII, and how, maybe, it lead to the anti-Communist backlash that allowed people like Sen. Joseph McCarthy to hold sway over our political system and to persecute and destroy American citizens in the late 40’s and early 50’s. The power play by our Communist “ally” immediately after the war ended required a severe about-face in our assessment of who and what the USSR was.
Heather has addressed this in some of her podcasts. I wish they were searchable for subject matter. You may be able to search from her FB page.
At least you got to read it on the Internet Archive. The Archive was recently offline because it was hacked. Enjoy the privilege while it is available. Better, download a pdf and keep for offline reading. Best, send the Archive a couple bucks from time to time (no, I do not have any affiliation with them – I just send money when I can).
I did download the PDF. I didn’t realize I was viewing it from a site that takes, and needs donations to survive. Thanks.
Excellent information to be talked about with everyone. Thank you
Compare the similarities between Trump's fascist attacks against the LGBTQ, threats of deportation and violence against those of Hitlers in this infographic the "Fascist Project 2025 Playbook". https://thedemlabs.org/2024/10/14/trump-demonizes-immigrants-minorities-fascist-project-2025-playbook/
Especially the warning from Pastor Niemoller (adapted) against the Nazis at the time:
"First they came for the Transgender and I did not speak out, because I was not Transgender.
Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew
Then they came for the Muslims and I did not speak out, because I was not a Muslim
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me"
This would have been the perfect opportunity to mention Ruth Ben-Ghiat!
Thank you.
There it is.
Great and timely history.
"The propaganda glorifies war and insists it is smart and 'realistic' to be pitiless and violent."
I can understand how such propaganda could appeal to an angry young man who might take pride in having a stoic, cynical, macho attitude and perhaps feels unloved.
But I think women are going to crush this one. Humpty Trumpty is going to have a great fall.
Women for Trump reminds me of Roaches for Raid or Chickens for Col. Sanders. It really disgusted me to see Trump, who is well known for his sexually predatory behavior toward women and his lust for his own elder daughter, to claim he would “protect” women. If you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you!
Roaches 🪳 for Raid 😅
Excellent. Everyone needs to read this.
Then the War Department became the Defense Department…
Whew!
Bret Devereaux, on his website: "A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry," offers an excellent analysis of why Donald Trump should be considered a fascist, and Trumpism is fascism
Thank you for your continued excellence educating your fellow citizens.
I wish your current letter could be published in every newspaper across the country right now!. It is so spot on to what is happening under our very noses.
This is one of the most important elections of our lifetime.
I see a historian's wise guidance in this pamphlet Heather quotes from the War Department. “[T]hey adopt names and slogans with popular appeal, drape themselves with the American flag, and attempt to carry out their program in the name of the democracy they are trying to destroy.”
I can't help thinking of the song the late John Prine wrote, "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore":
"Well, I got my window shield so filled with flags, I couldn't see
So, I ran the car upside a curb and right into a tree
By the time they got a doctor down, I was already dead
And I'll never understand why the man standing in the pearly gate said
But your flag decal won't get you into Heaven anymore...."
Children, Kitchen and Church - in German “Kinder, Küche und die Kirche” - KKK, -another gang of fascists!
I believe the most important question is WHY might a majority of voters be seduced by the Trump playbook and believe their interests are best served by the GOP? It seems obvious to us that they are clearly voting against their own self interests and to the detriment of our Country. But why might they be so vulnerable to the rantings of these obviously fascist forces? I no longer think it is because they are not smart enough. I think they are voting in their own self interests - having been betrayed since the inception of trickle down economics.
Look, I am a 76 year old woman who lives on the California coast. I am well educated, live in a nice house with a beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge and pride myself on being a caring person who has often been a champion for the underdog. I majored in Economics and then got my MBA at UC Berkeley. I learned from Berkeley, Harvard, Stanford, etc. all the big business schools that the purpose of a corporation was to increase the wealth of its shareholders. Not its "stakeholders" which would include employees, our communities, the children in our communities, our Country ..... Nope, just the shareholders. It did not take me too long to figure out that this was plain wrong .... as I watched the gap between corporate executives and their "workers" expand exponentially.
It is my guess that most of us who read and cherish Professor Richardson have prospered since the advent of trickle down economics. We did not mean that our prosperity would come at the expense of others or would reduce the opportunities of others. The "professional" class in this country simply outpaced most other classes and contributed to the equity gap. Perhaps not as obviously or egregiously at the "billionaire" class, but all the same our "wins" turned out to be "losses" of others. My reading of "Poverty, by America" by Matthew Desmond convinced me that this is the case.
Fareed Zakaria offered his opinion on WHY voters are vulnerable to Trump, the GOP, 47, and Project 2025 and I think there is wisdom in his words.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/27/politics/video/fareed-zakaria-take-gps-us-election-digvid
Thanks for letting me share these thoughts which have been grumbling around inside me for awhile now. It finally occurred to me that even if Kamala wins this election, we might already have lost what we love. These are indeed dangerous times.
David, I admire your viewpoint, and you are not all wrong. But please explain how Robert F Kennedy is going to be any help. The man is a mirage.
This should have been headlined and published across the country some time ago as a timely warning to all Americans! Many of us whose parents lived through World War Two grew up understanding why it was fought. It seems that understanding has not been passed on to younger generations.
Football and fascism...a commentary on Trump's proposed visit to Penn State Vs. Ohio State...which borrows heavily from your article...
https://open.substack.com/pub/jonathanbrownson/p/goodbye-or?r=gdp9j&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
The Wikipedia entry on the America First Committee ends by mentioning Donald Trump's use of America First in the 2016 presidential campaign, noting that people wondered in what way his administration would take an isolationist stand. The War Department pamphlet quoted extensively in this post should help to show how the neutral position on the Ukraine war fits the picture.
Today must be the first time in 85 years that there has been an "America First" rally at Madison Square Gardens, with Fred Trump in attendance and Nazi flags on display; though there was another in 1940 when Charles Lindberg was the American candidate for president. Many people have been asking why Donald Trump wanted to speak at this venue, but I have seen no such obvious answer in the press.
What’s in the forefront of my mind when I read this is personal. Memories of a 96 year old friend who was a bombardier in WWII saying about today’s MAGA “Don’t they know that Nazis are not nice people? This is why I fought against them.” Also my Mom who’s 1st husband died fighting in Europe 3 days before their first anniversary. Leaving her widowed at 19 with a severely handicapped daughter. People sacrificed to fight this blight….how soon we forget.
🫢🫢🫢😓😓😓🫢🫢🫢
Such important perspectives to understand — how to get the understanding to happen … and to happen in time to make a difference ….
Excellent post, Ms. Cox Richardson. So excellent.
Thank you seems hardly enough for all you are doing and sharing. I am so grateful.
Dr. Richardson,
This was very timely, and incredibly valuable. Downloaded and have distributed copies of the Army Talk #64 to our leadership team. We are a cross-partisan veterans group supporting the Proposition 1 initiative (open primaries, ranked choice voting) in Idaho.
A lot of the pushback we are getting, especially from veterans who disagree with Prop 1, is couched in classic fascist vernacular.
When their replies to our newsletters contain aspersions, we will be responding with a pdf of #64, and encouraging them to read and reflect
We need an updated version of that.
WOW! Fascism defined in 1945! Thank you, as always, for you leadership and brilliant service
What an excellent find! Thank you.
Dr. Richardson is an esteemed Historian, University Professor and Author. I doubt it was a "find."
Yes to your first sentence, no to your second, Barbara. As a recovering historian, I would say that historians "find" stuff all the time. I've had that experience myself. It helps if you have a reasonable idea of where to look for stuff and a better idea of what something is when you find it. Then you tell what it means.
How many historians have interviewed a sitting President (twice) and been featured on numerous major networks?
Dr. Richardson is a recognized national treasure.
I could not agree more. She is indeed a treasure!
What an excellent column! I consider myself reasonably well-read and educated, but I learn something new from almost every one of your letters. I'd never heard of that 1945 pamphlet that describes fascism so thoroughly and clearly. Too bad it's too late for a reprint. Should have been included with every mailed ballot.
Well done and very timely.
So who is going to laser beam the giant swastica banners up during the Madison Square Garden event?
Fox talking heads harp on about how high inflation has been in the U.S. since January 1, 2021. It should be noted that inflation in Hungary during this period under fascist model Victor Orban has been more than twice the inflation experienced in the U.S.
The Republican Party trades in lies. Inflation today is lower than in the past 2 years.
After reading this, I could not help but remember Benjamin Franklin's quote on liberty: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." The army's pamphlet titled "Army Talks" on March 24, 1945, must have had Franklin's quote in mind and simply expanded on it. Insisting that Franklin's words become central in our educational system on our history will remind the public that our framers of the Constitution (certainly most of them, excluding folks like South Carolina's John Rutlege, a representative to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, and who defended slavery) believed in Franklin's words. It would be nice to have thousands of bumper stickers made of this illustrious quote. One might think it would give some MAGA folks an incentive to think: one can only hope.
Someone explain to me why a replica of the government publication has been printed in the millions and handed out in farmer’s markets, flea markets, colleges, and door to door.
Not just in swing states — in every city, town, commonwealth, territory, and state.
Thank you, Dr. Richardson for unearthing this.
It sure sounds like the MAGA GOP and their Project 2025!
I attended a lecture by former Secretary Rice about the juxtaposition of Isolationism and globalism and of course, the dangers of isolationism in particular but the valid concerns of the isolationists. I am leaning more and more to encourage all of us to see the truth in each other, even if our solutions to that truth vary greatly. Don't start with solutions. Start with the concerns and interests of the "other". The worst moment of former Secretary Clinton's 2016 campaign was her "deplorable" reference. (Of course Trump does the same ad nauseam and his base gives him a pass. The right does not hold themselves to the same standard as dems in general, but none of us needs to participate in this type of ugly discord.)
Those who identified themselves as Trump's "deplorable" believe that the entitled "woke" attitude of the left and/or educated elite is the problem. And there is some truth in that. Instead of ignoring that, what would happen if leaders of the left like Kamala and Tim admitted that this attitude is problematic for our party? What if we apologized and admitted that we have been judgmental and condescending and we are sorry. What if we emphasized that we need everyone's expertise and each part of the whole is no more important than the other part. That we can appreciate and be thankful for plumbers and professors, waiters and wonks and that our goal needs to be sitting with each other and being grateful for each other's contributions.
Susan, I would agree with most of what you said. However, I take issue that our "'woke' attitude" is the problem. I would like to believe that you, as well as I, and the hundreds of posters on this thread, understand that being woke is to be aware of the dangers that the Trump right of center has imposed on all of us - including the regular man or woman who vote or believe in Trump. Those on the right, such as Florida's governor DeSantis and writers/creators of Project 2025, Paul Dans, Keven Roberts, and even Peter Navaro and the like, who have made it their life's work to shut down any semblance of sanity and reality in fairness sorely needed in this nation are greater "deplorables" than any of the common men or women on the street who vote for Trump. They (folks like Dans, Roberts, et. al.) are all criminals in cognitive assault on the people of the United States. Trump is complicit no matter how much he may deny his role. We can't prosecute anyone for "cognitive assault"; however, we have to tell it like it is and uncover the ugly truth embedded in the current right which no longer even has any semblance to the old GOP. I remember old George W. Bush bumper stickers saying: "Do you miss me yet?" And I would laugh, chuckle, and think what an idiotic sign. Now however, I say: "God yes! In a certain light, I do miss him compared to what we now have to contend with." I'm perfectly aware that the republicans have inched their way up to this debacle with which we now contend. To decline "woke" to any degree would, I believe, be a mistake. I do agree with the tenor of your argument regarding Hillary Clinton's call of Trump's people "basket of deplorables." Right off the bat, I cringed when she said that. To a certain extent, I knew where she was coming from and again, to a certain extent, I agreed with her. I have wonderful neighbors who voted for Trump; I, under no circumstances, ever saw them as "deplorables." And yet, there is no question that I know some who are frankly...well..."deplorable." Nevertheless, it was a bad mistake, and it should never have been said.
Thank you. This is so rt on for the moment we’re in. It’s like they’re foreseeing the future.
Such a good pamphlet!
I wonder if any G.I.s reading that in 1945 wondered why they were not in an integrated Army, why the white guys had their base and the colored guys base was separate. Of course those from the South didn't think that, because it was like that back home with the black underclass segregated from the white. And the KKK talked about "America First." (Hitler got some of his ideas from our segregated society in the U.S.) And the word Fascist comes from a bundle of sticks tied together representing unity which the Romans called Fasces, which is on the back of our dimes both in 1945 & present.
As Pogo said, "We have met the Enemy and he is US"
Steve. Did anyone REALLY get called into account over sending the National Guard to kill those students at Kent State? What about My Lai? It's already BEEN happening for over 60 years.
And, yes: thank you to Heather Cox Richardson for pointing this out. THIS VALUABLE INFORMATION.
Great coverage of this important historical document, thank you, Heather. For the record, Alan J. Singer provided a short reflection on this document back in June 2023, titled "The Army Warned Troops in 1945 of the Danger of Fascism. That Warning Rings True Today" (https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/the-army-warned-troops-in-1945-of-the-danger-of-fa).
Note:
Project 2025 and the Trump-Vance ticket threaten to drag America toward a dangerous path of modern fascism. This agenda aims to weaken democratic safeguards, undermine civil rights, and enforce ultra-nationalistic policies under centralized control. Imagine a future where dissent is stifled, freedoms are curtailed, and “patriotism” means allegiance to authoritarian power. That’s the fascist vision Project 2025 embodies. This election, democracy is on the line. Americans must resist this dark turn toward oppression by voting to protect our rights, our freedoms, and our nation’s integrity. Stand against fascism—2024 is our chance to choose democracy over tyranny. Don’t let it slip away.
I consider the Christian nationalists to be the American Taliban - different Imaginary Friend but the same goals, and fascist to the core. Marry religion and politics to get the bastard fascist child which has become the Republicrat party, in my opinion.
In March, 1945 my father, a Coast Guard radio officer assigned to convoy duty on Liberty ships, was in port in Marseilles on what would be his last voyage carrying supplies for the liberation of Germany from Nazi rule. He told me that around the middle of the return voyage he received a notice from the War Shipping Administration that convoys were to avoid approaching surfaced German submarines flying surrender flags as they were likely to be fired upon by disaffected crews who did not agree with the surrender to the Allies. Winning a war may be better than the alternative but it always comes at a cost and is never as quick or clean as we may wish to believe. I consider the upcoming election as similar in many respects.
I have prepared my ballot and will be voting early in-person next week. The plan is to wave and smile at the T. Rump poll watchers and then cast my vote for Harris/Walz. I refuse to be intimidated by those who have raised political lies to a fine art - let them think what they may, confrontation is never going to change them, only strengthen their resolve. Be sure to thank the poll workers, they are doing their best.
This whole election to date is so damn scary. Last night on YouTube I watched presentation by Michelle Obama at a rally and she was incredible. She covered everything that I feel the most important part as a woman was how she covered every issue of women and what the Roe vs Wade has done to all women of all ages And then today I watched Midas touch and how women are far outnumbering men going to the polls and voting we have to keep Hope alive!💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙
This is excellent! Fascism CAN happen here, and we must defeat it, soundly.
Apparently none of the Republicans in the current Congress read that particular flyer, or their parents didn't.
And here we are. Please, may enough thinking people vote in this election to stave off the fascists.
I actually remember hearing about these Army Talks as a kid. Heather's reference moved me to look them up in the archives she documented. One jumped out at me, triggering memories of how we referred to Germans at the time….Jerries. The army talk “See yourself as Jerry sees you” (https://richmond.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_3db2283b-9060-4387-9e5a-3d688cf71022/) is particularly compelling to me, since this is what I was taught at the time. (I'm 86, started school in 1943, and was an absolute sponge for whatever was happening in the larger world outside my family and especially for messages about the war, which dominated everything in our lives. Read this one 'talk' and you will immediately recognize the connections between Jerry and the Donald.
So maybe it's time to focus on fascism and present a strong message that cannot be ignored about how dangerous Trump and his followers actually are. Yes, people have regularly talked about saving democracy, but that comes out as a platitude if the full information is not constantly explained to the masses who only watch Fox and believe in Trump, not realizing how serious his presidency would be. Americans realized after his first term that he was terrible and he lost by 7000 MILLION votes, so what has changed? He's the same person but far more vindictive and angry and cruel with what he is spewing to the American public. That should have been a wake-up call that he is the same chaotic, angry president the first time. Leaders have to bombard the airwaves, the radio, and everything possible to make people realize that he is anathema to everything that is American democracy. Every effort must be given to scare Americans about a Trump presidency and it's detrimental effect on not just them but the world!!! Terri Quint
Cogent and timely. As always. Putting a face to the rhetoric of white nationalism as fascists and clearly recalling our attempt to bring knowledge from the argument brought to us from WW II is incredible! As Pogo said "We have met the enemy and he is us", now we have to vote!
Can you imagine the Department of Defense publishing this today--it would take a nano-second for Speaker Mike to haul its authors up before a House tribunal. (Thereby proving the pamphlet's point.)
Joe Rogan to trump “your weave is getting wide”. NYTs letter from 225 mental health professionals trumps dangerous psychopathology. Kamala has a funny laugh Hillary has a shrill voice Don’t like that Kamala couldn’t stop the Israel war. But Putin friendship with musk and trump is okay. Netanyahu is probably doing part of what he’s doing to hurt Kamala and aid trump. Trump can stop the Ukraine Russian war by withholding aid and allowing Russia to take what it wants. Booming economy and job market gas prices down stock market up inflation stabilizing with dropping interest rates. Yea let’s return to the good old days and put chaos and instability back in are daily lives. I’m still hopeful.
Thank you!
If the Biden/Harris administration had clearly stated these facts about Fascism some months ago, would we be in this horrible situation now? Even well-educated, intelligent people I know can't give a good definition of Fascism. If the majority of Americans understood, I think that the "Blue Wave" would definitely be the outcome of this election. Instead, I think that any "Blue Wave" will be because a lot of Americans simply detest Trump.
And one extra comment: Hitler himself rose to lead the Nazi movement through his rousing speeches. Later, his enthralling performances at rallies were key to his dominance. Trump is absolutely a parallel here, and to the shame of America he’s history repeating as entertaining farce. He mixes the confidence man’s promises of wealth with promises of his loving embrace, and again with merry war against all Others. People who are interviewed at his rallies happily admit they know nothing about the policies he attacks - because he, like Mussolini and Hitler before, simply enthralls them.
It’s the handicap of American liberal democrats that we offer something whose temperature is much cooler. Not the tight embrace but tolerant acceptance. You do you, ok? “Mind your own business” is in its own way isolating. We offer an essential safety net, help for those in need, and open, rational debate about best policies. Love - that’s for the personal, private zone. To rise to the challenge now requires deeply felt passion for justice, equality, everyone’s wellbeing. That must be what our leaders offer, and I’m happy to see it beginning. Then code it into policies - above all, taxation reforms that reduce the appalling inequality Americans suffer from. Welfare is not enough.
In the mid-70's I read Hal Lindsey's "The Late Great Planet Earth" twice, which is the authors interpretation of the Book of Revelations. In it, one of those interpretations was that a great power in the west collapses without a shot fired. Another is that Russia and China combine forces and invade the Middle East, bringing on the start of the end days. Interesting read.
Thank you, Professor Richardson. I either learn new things or relearn things I had forgotten when I read your daily letter. Right now, you are the only one I trust to give me this valuable information.
Our media is either afraid of DT or in his pocket or preserving their own pockets. It is killing democracy. We need the fairness doctrine back and citizens united drowned in the tiolet along with a good many of the supremes
Another fantastic letter. Should be required reading by all citizens.
Powerful and timely. We ignore this at our own peril. Vote Blue!
We have allowed our democracy to atrophy. Complacency is so dangerous. We must reengage with education, participation, and determination.
On the other hand. There are millions of us who from 2016 have formed what we called The Resistance. Since that time the Democrats have been defeating MAGA candidates in 2018, 2020!, 2022 and even 2024. So while it does seem as if people have grown complacent (I agree) we are still here fighting.
It is ok. We are so anxious now as the stakes are so high.
Of course there are but that hasn’t ended the issue. That is the point. I don’t deny or ignore the Resistence
Oh. I did not see that in your initial comment. I only know what each person posts and respond to that.
I'm disappointed and even shocked that so many readers are praising this War Department memo of March 1945 without realizing that something closely akin to fascism had already been business as usual in the U.S. South for many decades. Hitler is said to have admired and learned from Jim Crow. Btw, the GI Bill benefited primarily *white* GIs and helped lay the groundwork for racist housing policies in the North, East, and West as well as the South.
The War Department pamphlet should be published on the front page of every newspaper, read on every news program, and spread across social media. Actually, it should be Prof. Cox Richardson letter but a message from the War Department may resonate with the right people. The fascists among us are recruiting voters every day with lies and hate.
OMG... does this hit home!!!
Kinder, Küche, Kirche. My family was indoctrinated by this (I was born in Germany). Another poster my mom had to explain to me (very unwillingly) was "Gib dem Führer ein Kind". Give the Führer a child. A blond blue-eyed woman holding a blond, blue-eyed child.
... I don't need to say any more.
This pamphlet should be required reading and training for all US military today. It is way past time, since so many have identified with the Trump camp.
Does our current armed forces' leadership publish anything like this? Do they consider educating those under their leadership and protection to be outside of their purview? It's been reported there is a high number of those in the military with far right views, and I recall how difficult it was to get some to take inoculations as well as the cooperation the January 6 insurrectionists had from some higher ups in the armed forces.
Thank you Heather.
As a thought for all.
Edelweiss is not only an alpine perennial.
Towards the end of WWII, Edelweiss became the symbol of the German resistance against Nazism.
How close are we from that, a few weeks, maybe months?
Be safe. Be well. Please vote.
Timely doesn’t begin to describe your essay. Thank you.
You could replace the title A Fascist Playbook with The MAGA Playbook.
HCR, you certainly have spread the word, but I think a good majority of Americans are unaware of the fascist playbook.
Thank you for this column...as always, enlightening. And it makes the idea of another Trump
presidency even more frightening. This is such a troubled time in our history....and dangerous.
The only thing we citizens can do to protect our democracy is VOTE. Please, everyone, VOTE...
oh yeah...and that would be for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Lynda Greer, Atlanta, GA.
Scary as all get out as we can find parallels today.
Thank you, thank you, Heather, for this particularly succinct and important newsletter today. I so wish every American of voting age would read this. March, 1945 is today. Scary stuff.
Too bad the government did not continue to publish these pamphlets and to distribute them to public schools. Seems like our civics classes need them now. (Do schools even offer and/or require civics classes any longer?
There you go again, Heather! You've found something relatively obscure from the past and made it so relevant for today. I am so grateful to you. I wish the Democrats could immediately print this by the millions for circulation. I am concerned about a comment I read recently that young people are choosing authoritarianism without understanding its repercussions. At first glance, it seems neater and offers a simple explanation of the status quo. There is something for everyone to identify with that gives them a feeling of superiority, whether religion, gender, race, or wealth. I'd appreciate your insight into whether this is true.
Amazing how perfectly applicable it is to today, in every detail. Thank you for sharing.
I am amazed at how accurately this 80 year old document describes the situation today. The document was prepared while the United States was engaged in a war against people preaching the same kind of hate that we see today in our society.
Chilling.
Hmm...sound familiar? Heather, again, thanks for the history lesson. Hopefully this time around we will memorize it.
Vote Blue ✌️
Wow! What a great essay, today, Ms Richardson! Once our government, imperfect in its idealism as it was, at least tried to be of the people. Though, growing up in the 50's, there was a GREAT deal of what I'd call fascism today. It was primarily directed against women and people of color.
I've always said the rot is behind the pulpit, and it is; that's where people are conditioned to obedience to unseen powers and where they often learn to hate and fear others. Though schools are often involved, since the 60's they have tried to moderate their programs to at least accommodate all students fairly. They've met vicious backlash in this regard. This is why the conservatives/fascists (sadly, the same thing right now) want public money for private religious schools.
In a fascist regime, so-called “average” citizens can’t just “go along to get along” as the Germans discovered at the end of WWII when their cities had been flattened, their homes and economy destroyed, and they had, as a people, become pariahs. Come on Sheeple—wake up! This is not only your life but also those of your children!
Great letter & words of wisdom from the people who fought against the German/Italian iteration of fascism. Goebbels the master manipulator spewed propaganda to the German "Volk" continualously until many/most believed what they heard. Modern day Goebbels abound by the dozens if not hundreds online in this country & around the world & thus it is very hard to root out their poisons.
After WWII the GI Bill provided a way for many young Americans to continue education & increase their knowledge & skills. Our middle class at that point was the engine that drove the US to its greatness during the Post War period, that plus the very real advantage of not having to rebuild entire bombed out & destroyed cities & infrastructure. Thanks to the Marshall Plan we provided help & aid to not only our Allies but also to our 'enemies'. Treating Germmay & Japan with compassion & strength we avoided the terrible mistakes of the Versaille Treaty that led the world back into conflict.
But now we face a different fascist movement, one from within, who are attempting to introduce all the dangers that Heather outlined so well. And like, Germany, we are on the cusp of "electing" a new group of fascist thugs. Thanks to the Slaveholders who influenced the Constitution & that the slaveholding states were needed to ratify that constitution we have been encumbered with the Electoral College which directly takes democratically elected majority presidents to be cast aside to be replaced by those with the electoral advantage. It's not right & it's not democratic but that is what we have been burdened with & until enough people can be taught & informed that it is necessary to pass an amendment to rectify that inequality we will be faced with these dangers over & over & over as the Tryranny of the Minority will not give up their stranglehold on this country until they get what they want, which may very well be this election.
If we are fortunate enough to have a President Harris & VP Walz & an intelligent administration of Americans loyal to the constitution & the law it will be an ongoing "most important election of our lives' for many cycles to come. At 76, I doubt that I will live to see this country make the transformation to a true democracy where the majority of the people elect their leaders. I just hope that my daughter & her husband & my granddaughter have the stamina & will be safe enough to continue the fight in their own ways.
We are not going to know who won this election for several days after election day as it will take a long time to get votes counted, especially in Pennsylvania where they are not allowed to even open the envelopes of the mail-in ballots until the polls close. (Hey, Pennsylvania, come into the 21st century & do what California does, open the damn ballots & count them as they come in! DUH!!) So our anxiety will only grow during those days & my guess is that is when we will see the violence begin. Who knows this time they may be sucessful in confiscating the voting machines or ballots. Gone are the days of waking up a day or two after an election & either being happy or disappointed in the outcome. Now we will have to deal with violence if the outcome doesn't please the current extremist & his or her cronies!
Since at least the rise of the Tea Party and the breakdown of Congress, the ‘Religious Right’, the anti-tax movement, the pernicious change of the NRA - a very toxic cocktail for democracy - I have understood that fascist government could well find a home here. There’s an excellent article in the current NY Review of Books, The Peril of Civil Breakdown:
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/11/07/the-peril-of-civil-breakdown-simon-stevenson/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NYR-102724-Faludi-Lethem-Shapero-Rudick-Simon&utm_content=NYR-102724-Faludi-Lethem-Shapero-Rudick-Simon+CID_6441314cc58cfdf25ac341ab8acbc725&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_term=The%20Peril%20of%20Civil%20Breakdown
Look in the mirror Heather. Censorship, lawfare, ministry of disinformation, 51 experts election interference, court packing, forever War, an unelected and anointed candidate, a coup, the Corporate Press, open borders, DEI… the list is extensive. Is that, Donald, JD, RFK, Tulsi and Musk?
Fascism, the U.S. government document explained, “is government by the few and for the few. The objective is seizure and control of the economic, political, social, and cultural life of the state.” “The people run democratic governments, but fascist governments run the people.”
“The basic principles of democracy stand in the way of their desires; hence—democracy must go! Anyone who is not a member of their inner gang has to do what he’s told. They permit no civil liberties, no equality before the law.”
Sounds like the Elite and the Administrative State to me… Kamala.
This is where the rubber meets the road.
You support a fascist. You are a fascist.
Now please be quiet.
Admirably put and horribly chilling!
Trying to imagine soldiers capable of understanding such a treatise, let alone follow it into the logical consequences of actual democratic responsibility and guardedness. Definitely NOT a light-hearted pat-on-back. To the contrary, it is alerting and alarming. AND nothing has changed, aside from getting worse and having zero captive audience. Constant vigilance? Nowhere to be seen. Abundant evidence the authoritarians are winning? Everywhere. This needs to be republished and reemphasized and put in historical perspective. This is NOT a recent concern.
If only the March 24, 1945 topic could be published again now - to help ALL Americans become better-informed citizens, and therefore vote to save democracy in this country, and to improve the possibility of peace in this world. Thank you, Heather, for all that you do.
Send a copy of the pamphlet to Bezos.
Thank you for this extremely vital historical contribution to the conversation.
The entire 8-page FASCISM64 document in the War Crimes Archive needs to be read by every single American. It shouts down the ages at us.
https://ia801608.us.archive.org/21/items/ArmyTalkOrientationFactSheet64-Fascism/Fascism64.pdf
It's just a lot easier for too many people to be indifferent and ignorant than to do any studying of history or to do any critical thinking.😫🤔
Well, this is terrifying.....
Best description yet!!! Should be read by anyone voting, as if there's any doubt,
Thank God for HCR where "past is prologue" comes to life and saves our psyches...every day.
Go Kamala/Walz.
"Everything that we are as a nation is the rule of law & the constitution .” Liz Cheney
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpEaKiACcrI&t=25s
Trump: ‘I NEED THE KIND OF GENERALS THAT HITLER HAD’. Trump's top general calls Trump "a fascist to the core...the most dangerous person to this country” https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/10/trump-military-generals-hitler/680327/
VoteVets.org Masters of the Air: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr_tKAQ20Dg&t=5s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVrQBXft1ZQ
Authentics "Christians" have accepted the blood of Christ to wash them clean before the Father, then receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The evidence of this indwelling are the fruits of the Spirit:
Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control. These gifts are manifested in how Self and Others are treated. Evidence of the fruit is action toward OTHERS, not just words! To call an apple a banana doesn't make it so! John 3:16
Thanks Heather - very timely. Key people in the FDR and Truman Administrations understood the POWER of propaganda. Sadly, some key people on our Supreme Court are enabling propaganda and outright lies to flourish.
It seems that,even if Harris wins, we will ultimately lose, given the trajectory of the past few decades.
Thank you for as always, for taking your reasoned and principled position, and in this case showing the United States has a deep and profound history of leadership success in espousing its core principles of freedom for all.
Ironically those principles include - as they must - the freedom for leaders of major media outlets to choose as well. This week we’ve seen two major media outlets choose indifference by avoiding the responsible opportunity to stand tall for democracy and endorsing what a third major media outlet has called the “only patriotic choice” for POTUS.
In its place they’ve demonstrated cowardly and slavish self interest when they could have stood as tall as the service men whose lives brought them today’s freedoms. Shameful.
Please see the German movie, LOOK WHO’S BACK.
Frightening
Fascinating that that Richardson found this rather obscure US Govt publication, which correctly shows that fascism is not an ideology but an effort to grab power based on fear and hatred of other people, races, religions, or even gender. This is similar to Professor Paxton" later and more academic analysis of the appeal of fascism. But even he, recently and reluctantly agreed that Trump and the MAGA cult appeals to the same impulses of fear and hatred of others with the same goal of achieving personal power.
Once again the question is, will we learn from history?
Certainly applies to today.
We even have our odd little man with the mustache.
Peace
John
You would have thought WWII inoculated America against the fascism, but here we are. When Trump talks about the enemy within he’s describing himself an his MAGA movement. The American people are like the proverbial frogs in the saucepan of water, and the water is half way to boiling. We still have a chance to leap free of the danger. Will we be lulled into complacency by the skillful BS? Highly recommend that anyone curious to see how Fascism works read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.
The word "sobering" doesn't do justice to your written words. The parallels between Trump and Hitler are certainly here, the only difference is the age of each man at their time of power and 91 years between the first rise of fascism and now. Now where is that bunker that changes this outcome? Oh yeah, it's the voting booth, now let's get to work. We have a democracy to save.
How did we lose this description? It should be part of every social studies class starting in the 7th grade.
The new swastika is the blue TH sign. The German people bought theirs, with the help from American policies. I'm afraid that our fascist undercurrent will surface.
What a horrifically perfect description of the MAGA/Trump program! Thank you for posting it; it is a really valuable resource.
Where is THIS page In the World or American History textbooks in our public schools???
War Department, “Army Talk 64: FASCISM!” March 24, 1945, at https://archive.org/details/ArmyTalkOrientationFactSheet64-Fascism/mode/2up
We need to either drop theses pamphlets from the sky to Americans or get our media to do their job to distribute vital information thru social media rather than just accept money for political campaign ads…
Thank you Professor tor reminding us what fascism is, and how it starts, and its dangers. Now, let's step forward and realize it is easier to communicate the danger by saying "Trump will be America's Hitler" and "MAGAs will be Trump's Nazis" than it is to say "Trump is fascist to the core." Americans are hard-wired to hate Hitler (think of all the WWII movies we have seen where Hitler's Nazis are the 100% BAD guys).
The only management style that Trump has ever known was his personal corporation where EVERYONE worked for Trump and everyone did what he commended regardless of legality or morality, and where he could fire anyone whose loyalty to him wavered. That's where Trump learned how to be the Führer.
His German grandfather and father, only valued money, and his father demanded that Trump be a WINNER not a LOSER, so Trump's two goals are
A. to get other people's money, by either convince (by fraud or by over-promising) [recall Trump steaks, Trump's golden sneakers, Trump's Bible (made in China), and Trump's $100,000 watch), and
B. to stay out of jail. Trump believes he can buy, intimidate, or litigate his way out of any problem.
Note: Trump's father died after 7 years of Alzheimer's Disease, so Trump has a predisposition to have Alzheimer's which is hereditary. Trump's senility is increasingly obvious, and syncophant J.D.Vance knows Trump won't serve out the full 4-year term.
Everyone should go out and VOTE for democracy.
I fail to understand why it is necessary to explain what fascism is, especially to your readers. The major issue here is the role of money, big money, in the function of democracy.
Part of fascism often involves close cooperation between business oligarchs and the government.
Historians will conclude that our Democracy was done in by one Joe Biden with the idiots on the Democratic National Committee. The plan has been knowable for at least a couple of years; longer for the prescient. He/ they could still do something even now, but will not.
I have never commented on a specific Letter but today's I feel is really important. How do we get the word out to our Republican friends? This is really important during these divided times.
In college, more than 50 years ago, I took a course abot totalitarianism from a man who had been rescued from Theresienstadt (Terezin) by the Red Army. I recall a number of things he said, one of which was that one of Mussolini’s myrmidons had proclaimed that, “Fascism is too important for ideology.” It made no more sense then than it does now.
Thank you.
This article and the so many good comments are very clear statements as to the risks that we face. As it is Sunday, I would like to add Chapter 7 verses 15-20 of the Book of Matthew for them to reflect on:
15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Why do some Americans prefer Fascism over democracy? Especially if democracy endangers their personal wealth today or in the future. Just about every WWII era GI knew more about fascism than most Republicans currently in the government. But these Republicans know a lot about the accumulation of wealth and power.
The left called Reagan, Bush, Bush, McCain, Romney, and Trump a fascist. Of course that never stops
you from lying.
Again - Lets open an escrow account and each put $10K, 25K 50K pick a number and four years from now if Trump wins, we will see who is right.
Of course you won't take that offer because you don't believe a word of it. Its all propaganda.
You are a fascist. You can continue to spew hatred and racism because that is what fascists do. The next time someone asks what party you are with say "I am a fascist" and I mean to destroy your Democracy.
Sickening.
Trump has been calling Harris a fascist, a communist, a Marxist, and a socialist for weeks now. He has also used those words to describe her supporters (and Pres. Biden's supporters earlier). Clearly he doesn't really understand what those terms mean because he uses them interchangeably.
So now General Kelly suggests that Trump is in fact a fascist and we're suddenly not allowed to use the term without taking criticism for it. But Trump can continue doing it. At least Kelly appears to have some idea what the term means.
Talk about a double standard here.
I am no fan of Jake Tapper but in this instance he has more than risen to the occasion.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/25/politics/video/tapper-trump-harris-fascist-lead-digvid#:~:text=Video%20Ad%20Feedback-,GOP%20criticizes%20Harris%20for%20calling%20Trump%20%27fascist%27%2C%20Tapper%E2%80%99s%20%E2%80%98rogue%E2%80%99%20control%20room%20highlights%20double%20standard,-CNN%27s%20Jake%20Tapper
Professor,
I've been kicked off the mailing list - I think because I changed credit cards.
HELP!
pjcarriganjr@gmail.com
My dear. Please don't put your private email out there. Delete you comment where it is listed.
Go to Letters from an American page
go to manage my subscription. Edit.
I’d like to call attention to HCR’s penultimate paragraph, which points out that to avoid fascism we must make democracy work for the people. We haven’t been doing that since Reagan’s time. This has largely been driven by Republican’s infatuation with so-called “trickle down economics”, which in truth should be called “flow up economics”. But Democrats’ support for neo-liberal policies and its capture by wealthy donors is also to blame.
Many of our people are struggling day to day to make ends meet. They’re constantly exploited by big corporations, both as customers and as employees. People in this situation are rightfully angry and susceptible to fascist propaganda and hate. Once we get past the Trump threat, we urgently need to tackle these underlying problems. Kamala is certainly proposing some actions that will help directly, but we also need to tackle the systemic problems that have gotten us to this place.
Please pause and take a look at the best economy in 50 years. Stop promoting fascism without examining the exact facts of what you are saying.
Barbara, I have thought a lot about the fascism that is rising in the United States and wrote a post about it in 2023: https://www.winwindemocracy.org/p/2023-06-fascist-politics-in-america?r=8ezqn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web.
Regarding the economy, it is indeed very strong in the aggregate. People in around the top 25% of income are doing extremely well. But there are many people who are struggling to feed and educate their kids and who see little prospect for improvement. For the first time in generations, many of today's young adults will not do better economically than their parents. I've written about this as well, at
https://www.winwindemocracy.org/p/2022-08-inequality-and-growth?r=8ezqn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web and at
https://www.winwindemocracy.org/p/2022-08-inequality-and-growth?r=8ezqn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web.
Thank you, Dr. Richardson. That 1945 pamphlet sounds like something that perfectly describes TODAY. Thanks again for such amazingly informative TRUE stories. If only we will listen…….You (along with other brave souls) have “met the moment” in this nightmare “time of testing” for America. I pray enough of us will understand where we are…………seeing the willful surrender of common sense by otherwise normal people has been shocking…….Between Fox News, social media and now a demagogue with no shame and no moral core, we are in a frighteningly perilous time. Thank you again.
Fascism thrives on indifference and ignorance. Boy, is that true. Speaking with my neighbors and friends, who support the Beast, is a way to come directly face to face with this fact. A response to my clearly stating reality? "That's fake news". And "LOL, I'm voting for Tom Brady. They both stink." Classic evasion and an attempt to deflect and save face. They simply cannot, will not, face the facts squarely - the brainwashing and cognitive dissonance is too strong for them. And so we're left with the classic "Arguing with a brick wall".
The new GOP has been setting the stage to declare the 2024 election is rigged if Trump loses! It’s very disturbing!
The threat isn't Trump, per se, it's the magnitude of his following. There are two types. First, are political conservatives that have and will always be Republicans no matter what. Winning matters, but they still think. They are generally troubled by Trump, just not enough. The second group are the ones with nothing to lose. They are the drifters who don't see life as having much to offer. Politics is just cheap entertainment and violence heightens the thrill. They have a low opinion of themselves and accept affiliation with any group that will accept them. The opportunity to defeat Trump and the future of our country lies with the first group. We need to know the difference.
THE TITLE OR LABELING OF FACISCM IS NOT REALLY UNFERSTOOD BY HALF OF AMERICA YET IF DONALD GETS IN, THEY WILL.
““Fascism thrives on indifference and ignorance,” it warned. Freedom requires “being alert and on guard against the infringement not only of our own freedom but the freedom of every American. If we permit discrimination, prejudice, or hate to rob anyone of his democratic rights, our own freedom and all democracy is threatened.” “
HCR
The world will see a similar gathering of fascism today at the Madison Square Garden in New York City. They will start to gather early afternoon and go we’ll into the night with the Fuhrer taking the stage last. He will speak fear, he will have supporters hoping for a pardon, like Mayor Adams, he will speak monotone for at least an hour about the same topics, insulting many.
FACISM
The real question will be if he instructs the bored audience to march into the streets with hate. Like he did on Jan. 6th.
This will not be a powerful speech like Hitler provided with massive gatherings. Crowds believed to be a million at times.
This one will be 30k, with most leaving early to catch trains and buses on a work night.
Just like the one on February 20th, 1939, it will not amount to anything.
Yet Trump will see it as a victory.
And not pay the bill.
Peace. We are so close.
Even as Heather and Tim Snyder mark the Fascist Characteristics of the Republicans growing stronger as the election nears I am struck by the blatant decisions by major News Papers to refuse to support the anti-fascist Kamala Harris.
Actually the decision to support Trump is by billionaire and millionaire personalities including the Koch folk, Elan Musk and Peter Thieles to usher in a the Spector of an Oligarchy of wealth on the basis of Fascistic Rule.
We are definitely on the cusp of these terrible possible futures.
Wow. Had to share.
"Not-sees" pretend there's, "nothing to see here folks", so just move along.
This is an outstanding historical document......it should not have been kept hidden for so long, but each July 4 it should be republished in its original format---for the troops who fought to save the democracy that now falters. And it should be shared and read at school assemblies at the start and end of each year.
Every Trump rally ticks off all three boxes of the fascist playbook
☑️ Pit groups against each other by hating other races, religions and other political groups
☑️ Isolate America from the rest of the free world
☑️ Call everyone not on Trump's side an enemy of the people
Like pornography, fascism is one of those things you know when you see it. It's all over Trump and his movement.
Thanks Heather for not letting up!
It would be very cool to learn who wrote that and did they hold a government job 10 years later under Ike and the House let’s not blame Joe in the Senate for the general purge.
Thank you for this reminder from our history (and the world’s).
Are we doomed? Will the hated institutions hold? Will the polls and the count be protected? Are things so bad that half the country wants a fascist? Do that many Americans not know the difference between democracy and fascism? Has the memory of the price the world paid to defeat fascism been forgotten?
I’m assuming everyone here has read Rachel Maddow’s “Prequel”, but in case you haven’t it is amazing and should be required reading in schools.
However did you find this? Thank you for doing so…this is a Master Class on fascism if there ever was one.
I too am very much indebted to your work and letters Professor Richardson.
Steve, wonderfully said. And you're absolutely right.
Wow. Do we know who wrote it ... ?
Amazing! Go U.S. War Department. Who knew!
All I can say is wow! And here we are.
Say it loud!
FREE ! Your history lesson for today.
How is it that this has become so relevant to the very real challenges our democracy faces today? What a wake-up call!
Thank you for sharing.
When Trump supporters
hear him called a fascist,
they think it’s because
he gives himself a
facial
every morning with
1/2 lb of bronzer 👀